Unexpected Twists
by TeamBlaus4EVER
Summary: Everything happens for a reason, or so says every adult in her life. Especially if it's unexpected.
1. Loving Her The Best He Can

Hope you all enjoy! Reviews are welcome! I do not own anything in this story, besides Alyson, everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 1

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A young girl at the age of sixteen sat on her window sill, gazing out at the scene on the other side of the glass. Her blond hair cascaded down past her shoulders to the middle of her back in curls, her bangs just touching the tips of her eye lashes. A book rested on her lap, her blue eyes glued to the pages. She heard a familiar engine roar to life and looked up at the sky. She could see the bat signal clearly in the sky.

She smiled softly to herself at the thought of the cape crusader. Batman was her favorite superhero. He had saved her a few years ago from the Joker. She still shivered at the thought of that crazy man. He was beyond insane in her opinion. She was brought out of her memories by the sound of her door opening. "You missed dinner again, Miss Alyson." She looked at the old man and smiled softly to him.

She placed her book mark inside of her book and closed it shut as she got to her feet. She made her way across her room toward the old man. "I'm sure that I wasn't that missed. Daddy probably missed dinner too." The girl said to him as she took the tray from the old man and set it on her bed. She climbed on top of the mattress and sat cris-cross in front of it.

The old man just sighed as he watched the younger girl take small bites out of her dinner, avoiding any eye contact at all costs. "You were very much missed, Miss Alyson." The old man said to her, a slight chuckle in his tone. The girl looked up form her meal and smiled back at him.

She knew that he had left out telling her if her father was gone again or not, but she didn't feel the need to say that out loud. "Thank you, Alfred. Do you know when daddy will be home tonight?" The blond girl asked Alfred as she finished eating her meal. Alfred frowned to himself when he noticed that there was hardly a dent in her plate. He shook his head 'no'.

She shrugged silently, trying not to look disappointed as she wiped her hands clean a second later. "I'm sorry, Miss Alyson. I'm afraid that I do not. You know as well as I do that your father's evening meetings can go on for hours." Alfred said sadly to the girl as he picked up the tray. The girl nodded sadly and looked away from the old man. Alfred knew that she wasn't in the mood to talk anymore. "Good night, Miss Alyson. I hope you sleep well." Alfred said out to her as he went to leave the room.

She didn't look up at him right away. She didn't want to risk him seeing her eyes watering with tears that shouldn't be there. "Good night. Sweet dreams, Alfred." The girl said out to him. She looked up at the last second, a small smile playing on her lips. "Oh, and Alfred?" She asked out to him. The old man turned to look at her. "When are you going to finally call me Allie?" She asked him. The old man chuckled softly to himself and shook his head as he left the room. She giggled quietly and laid down on her bed, getting comfortable underneath the covers.

She couldn't help but think of her father. He was always gone at night, or at least most nights he was. She rarely saw him anymore. He was hardly ever home. He's always at meetings or events that she was never allowed to go to. She got to go to some, but it was only when it was child appropriate. She soon found herself drifting to sleep, her dreams filling with memories of her and her father at one of the events that he had taken her to, which just happened to be a ball.

She had only been six at the time, but she was happy to go just because she got to spend time with her father. She had to dress up in a pure white little dress and annoying little black dress shoes. After her father made his rounds of chit chatting with certain people, he took her onto the dance floor and danced with her, well he did the dancing since he was holding her in his arms and her feet never touched the ground, but it was the same difference. It had to be one of the best nights of her life. A faint smile played on her lips as she dreamed of dancing in a ballroom in a beautiful gown.

Hours later, Alyson was fast a sleep in her bed, unaware of what had taken place in the city that she called home. Bruce Wayne was on his way up stairs when he was stopped by Alfred. "She misses you, Master Wayne." Alfred said out to him as he came out of another room. Bruce stopped short and turned to look at the old man.

Alfred could tell that Bruce already knew that his daughter missed him, and he knew that he missed spending time with her too. "I know that she does, Alfred." Bruce said out to the old man sadly, looking up the stairs a second later. "Good night." He said to him before heading up the stairs to go to bed himself. He could faintly hear Alfred saying 'good night' back to him, but he didn't stop to make sure.

He was heading down the hallway opposite of his room. He stopped when he got to a room. The door to Alyson's bed room opened, a crack of light flooding into the room. Bruce looked inside and a faint smile appeared on his face. Alyson looked so innocent, so untouched from Bruce's double life, when she slept. He stepped inside of the room and sat on the end of her bed.

He brushed back her bangs out of her eyes, caressing her cheek in a fatherly way. "I wish that I didn't have to hide things from you, but I have to for your own safety." Bruce whispered softly to his daughter before getting up from his seat on her bed and going over to the door. He stopped in the door way and looked back at her again. "I love you, Alyson. I hope you know that." Bruce knew that she wasn't going to hear or answer him back, but he just needed to say it. He closed the door behind him quietly and went on his way toward his room for the night.


	2. Lions, and Tigers, and    Bats?

Thanks for the reivew, glad that you liked the chapter. I do own anything but Allie, everything belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 2

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The next morning, the sun was shining bright and early. The light broke through Alyson's curtains, shining right on her sleeping form. She rubbed her face, annoyed that the sun was hitting her. She really should remember to close those stupid things before she goes to bed. She sat up in her bed and yawned, stretching out like a cat as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She pulled the covers off of her and slipped on her blue fuzzy slippers.

She left her room and went to go freshen up in one of the million of bathrooms in Wayne Manner. Down stairs, Bruce was reading the morning paper while he had his breakfast. He was do to go to a meeting in about an hour, but he figured that he had enough time to eat breakfast and read the paper. Plus, it wouldn't hurt if he got a chance to see his daughter before he left for the day either. He read in silence for a few minutes before it was broken. "Morning daddy." Alyson said out to him as she came into the dining room.

Bruce looked up from his paper and smiled up at her, raising from his seat to properly greet his daughter. He walked around the table and met her halfway. "Morning, sweetheart." Bruce said out to her as he hugged his daughter. She smiled back at him and welcomed the hug from her father. "I'm sorry that I had to leave before dinner again last night." Bruce apologized to her.

Alyson shrugged silently, acting as if it didn't bother her, though they both knew that it did. "It's fine, daddy. Do you have any meetings today?" Alyson asked him as she pulled away from her father's hug. Bruce frowned sadly as he watched her walk to her seat. He followed behind her, and pulled her out her chair for her. "Thank you." She mumbled out to him as he helped her push her chair in once she was seated.

He simply nodded to her and headed back to his own seat across from her. "Yes, I have to check out one of our departments and talk to some people. It shouldn't take more than a few hours though." Bruce explained to her. She nodded silently back to him, mumbling a quick 'thank you' to Alfred when he placed her breakfast in front of her.

She knew that he wished that she would be interested in the business, but she just wasn't. It was as simply as that. Why would she though? Really? It's taking her father away from her. Where's the good in that? "So what on the agenda for this week, daddy?" Alyson asked out to her father.

Bruce looked up at her, giving her a look that told her that he had just remembered something. He swallowed his food and wiped his mouth before he spoke up to tell her, which annoyed her because she really wanted to know now ."There's a circus coming to town in a few days. I was wondering if you would like to go with me?" Bruce asked her, chuckling as he watched her excitedness.

She always jumped at the chance to spend time with her dad, even if it is just going to the circus with him. She knew that it was baby thing, but she had always loved the circus. "Sure, daddy. I'd love to go." Alyson smiled sweetly to her dad. Bruce nodded happily and smiled as he went back to his breakfast. They sat in silence for a few minute while they ate. Alyson took Bruce by surprise when she broke the silence first. "So did anything interesting happen in Gotham last night while you were out at your meeting?" She asked him, not even looking up from her plate of scrambled eggs to look at him.

Bruce froze, his fork half way to his mouth, the memories of last night coming back to him. He had almost gotten Harvey last night, but he was still a large. Still out there was Harvey Dent, or Two Face as he goes by now. "You haven't watched the news yet, I see." Bruce chuckled out softly to his daughter, but they both knew that it was forced. "Two-face attempted to steal a vault from the bank last night." Bruce said to her upon seeing Alyson's 'no duh' face.

She just rolled her eyes. It wasn't a new thing for some villain to try to steal from a bank. She had to give the guy credit though. He definably knew how to be original with how he went about it. "I bet Batman stopped him. He always stops the 'evil duers of Gotham city'," Alyson said out to her dad, mocking the tv news reporter. "Or so says the people on tv." She added in as she finished eating her breakfast.

Bruce couldn't help but chuckle at his daughter. "Would it be too of an out fielder to say that you're not Batman's biggest fan?" Bruce tried to keep up the charade that it didn't bother him that his own daughter wasn't a fan of Batman, but it really did deep down.

Alyson shrugged innocently, not really knowing what she thought of Batman. "I don't know. I mean, I'm grateful that the guy saved my life and all, but he's just not my type. Not just because he's got to be like 20 something years older than me, but he seems like a stick in mud." Alyson said to him as she got up from her seat and left to take her dishes into the kitchen. Bruce nearly choked on the food he had been chewing when she had said that. Stick in the mud? What was she talking about? "You alright, daddy?" Alyson asked concerned as she popped her head back inside of the room again. Bruce was still coughing, but nodded that he was fine as he was waving her off. She shook her head and left the room again. Bruce looked at the door way she had left through sadly. If she thought Batman was a stick in the mud, what did she think of him?

Alyson was now dressed for the day and was bored beyond words. She was itching to get out of this museum that she was suppose to call home. Her dad was out meeting some people from Wayne Enterprises electronics division. She's had to go to that part of the company before. There is some crazy loony people in there. Especially, what was his name again? Ed something? Edward Nygma! That's it! "Miss. Alyson?" She was brought out of her thoughts at the sound of Alfred calling her. "Miss. Alyson, would you like to go to town? Your father is taking you to the circus I hear." Alfred said out to her, knowing that she would want to go shopping. She rolled her eyes at Alfred's hinting. She nodded anyways and followed after him to the garage.

The two ended out not getting back to the Manner until late. Alyson had insisted on going over to the next town to see all of the little shops after she had gotten a new dress for the circus. It was a black halter top dress that had a rainbow pattern on the V neck of the collar and on the bottom of the dress. It was simple, but Alyson found it very cute and very her.

As they pulled into the driveway, Alyson noticed that her dad wasn't home from his meeting just yet. She frowned sadly when she realized that. Didn't he say that it was only his morning booked up today? Shouldn't he have called or something to let them know that he wouldn't be home early? She didn't voice any of these questions to Alfred though, she just carried her bags into the Manner and up to her room, mumbling a quick good night to Alfred.

It wasn't until a few hours later when she came back down. She was drinking a cup of hot coco when she heard the sound of the front doors closing. She set her cup down and pulled the blanket around her shoulders closer. She heard footsteps coming closer to where she was. She looked behind her and let out a breath of relief when she saw that it was just her dad. "You're home late. Unexpected meeting?" She asked out to him. Bruce jumped, startled having not known that she was in the room.

He was still a bit thrown off by his meeting with Dr. Chase, or well, Batman's meeting with her. Alyson wasn't blind, she could tell that her dad was flustered over something. "Yeah, you could say that." Bruce said to her as he rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. .

Alyson smiled half heartedly and got up from her seat on the couch. She wrapped her arms around her dad and gave him a good night hug "Night daddy." She said to him before heading toward the stairs, but stopped half way up the stairway and looked back at her dad with a sly smirk on her lips. "So when do I get to meet her?" Alyson laughed out to her father.

Bruce looked up at her in shock. How the hell had she known? "Bed. Now." Bruce said out to her firmly, but she knew that he was trying not to laugh as he said it to her. She giggled softly to herself and waved to him as she made her way up the left stair case. Bruce shook his head with a chuckle. He picked up her cup and went to go put it back into the kitchen.

Back at the Electronic division of Wayne Enterprises, sparks were flying from one of the cubicles. Edward sat hunched over his desk, working on his invention. Sweat beads his brow, his lips mumbling worlds too fast for anyone to understand. "Too many questions. Too many questions." He muttered out in an obsessive repetitive voice. He glances up at one of the many pictures that he has of Bruce Wayne. "I'll show you it works." He said out as he tapped it.

He had thought that he was alone. He still couldn't believe how his ideal had let him down earlier today. "What the hell is going on here?" Edward jumped out of his skin, startled by Stickley's interruption. Stickley stood before Edward's cubicle. He was clearly not happy to see Edward here and working on his invention. "Your project is terminated. I'm calling security." Stickley threatened him before he turned to go do just what he had said. Edward moved without thinking clearly, taking the pot of coffee with him. He whacked Stickley off the head with it, knocking the old man out cold.

"Coffine'll kill ya!"


	3. Do You Like The Circus?

Thanks for the reviews! Dick will be introduced in ther next chapter, yay! lol I do not own anything in this fiction, besides Alyson, everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 3

The next morning, Alyson was half a sleep as she walked into the kitchen to get some food. Unlike the sterio-type rich girl, she didn't depend on Alfred to get her everything when she wanted it. Alfred was more like a grandfather to her than a butler. She wasn't one of those rich girls who didn't even know where the kitchen was, or how to wash her own clothes. She walked right to the fridge, only just catching the end of what the radio announcer was talking about today.

_' . . . And on other news, there was a suicide late last night after hours at Wayne Enterprises Electronics division. Police are still investigating . . .' _

The glass of milk in Alyson's hand fell to the floor, completely shattering and making a mess on the floor. "oh my . . . Dad!" She screamed out, taking off to go find her father. "Dad! Dad, there is a problem at Wayne Enterprises! Dad!" Alyson continued to yell out as she hurried down the hallway that led toward the stairs.

She had just reached the stair case when she ran right into someone. The person grabbed a hold of her arms to sturdy her. "Alyson? Alyson, what's wrong?" Bruce asked out to his daughter frantically, needing to know what was wrong with her.

She was out of breath and still freaking out. Someone had died at her dad's work. Died! "Dad . . . suicide . . . elect . . electronics di . . division." Alyson said out of breath to her father. She couldn't believe it. It couldn't be true. She had met the people who work for her dad before, and now of them had seemed capitable of doing this. That just showed much she really knew though.

Bruce nodded sadly to her and led her over to the couch. He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and kneeled down to her height. "Alyson, Allie, calm down. I'll go down there and find out what happened if it that'll help you relax. I just need you to take a deep breath and relax before I go." Bruce said calmly to her. Alyson just shook her head, not believing how he could be so calm.

Someone died, someone that he might have known. She did as he told her to though and took a deep breath. "How . . . how are so you so calm?" Alyson tried to laugh, but ended up hiccuping trying to hold back her tears. She didn't even know why she was upset.

She didn't even known the guy. He worked for her dad though. She didn't know why that was a big factor in her head, it just was. "I have to be. It's part of being a dad, I think." Bruce chuckled softly to her, glad to see that she was calmed down now.

Alyson just remembered the mess that she had made a few minutes ago in the kitchen. "Oh my god, I broke a glass and spilled the milk. I just left it there. I . . . I need to go clean it up." Alyson tried to get up, but Bruce just sat her back down on the couch. "Alfred shouldn't have to pick up my mess just because I freaked out about something." She said to him as she tried to get up again, only to be sat back down.

She was still shaking. She was only going to hurt herself if she went near anything sharp. Truth be told, he didn't even want her near any glass anyways. "I don't want you touching broken glass, Alyson. You're lucky that you didn't get any stuck in you when the glass broke. I want you to go upstairs and get some more rest. I'll send food up to your room later on when I return." Bruce said to her as he helped her up and led her over to the stair case. She rolled her eyes, but didn't protest at all as he led her upstairs toward her room.

At Wayne Enterprises, the police were questioning people. Bruce had arrived a few minutes ago and was being filled in on what had happen. Edward Nygma stood, sobbing before the head of personnel. "Why? Oh, why? I can't believe it. Two years. Working in the same office. Shoulder to shoulder, cheek to cheek . . . we're talking face, by the way . . . and then this." He said to the officer, handing the him a note. "I found this in my cubicle. You'll find the hand writting matches his exactly as does the sentence structure and spelling." He told the cop. His tone had changed, but soon he was back to sobbing. It was too quick to notice though, so the cop didn't think anything of it. "I couldn't possibly continue on here. The memories. I'll just get my things." Edward said to him before leaving.

He slipped out of a side door, quickly avoiding Bruce and Commissioner Gordon as they walked toward Bruce's office. "We've questioned everyone who worked on the floor. Computer records show no one going in or out after Stickley." Commissioner Gordon said to him as he replayed the tape for Bruce.

Both men were smarter than to just follow a tape though. They both knew better than that. "Computer records can be forged. I'll have my people pull up . . ." Bruce trailed off when the cop hands Gordon the note Edward had given them.

He quickly read over the note. "Suicide." He said to him. "With all due respect, leave the police work to us. We'll be in touch." Commissioner Gordon said to him before he exits the room. If only he knew how much he was actually good at this. If only the old man knew who he was really talking to.

Bruce headed into his office, followed by his secretary Margaret. "The society matrons of Gotham have called a record thirty-two times. Not to mention the press. I think that if they don't know soon who you plan to take to the charity circus, the world will most surely come to an end." Margaret said to him, a slight laugh in her tone.

Bruce chuckled softly to himself as well. It hurt him a little bit to know that the press were more concerned about his dating life than a man's death though. "I'm taking my daughter, no story. Just a father taking his daughter to the circus." Bruce said to her just before he noticed an envelope on his desk. "What's this?" He asked out to his secretary.

"I don't know. I didn't see anyone . . ."

"No post mark. No stamp." Bruce said out as he opened up the envelope. A picture of his face popped up. He opened it up more and the 'tongue' of the mini him dropped and it's eyes buldges out. On the tongue were clipped out letters put together. "If you look at the numbers on my face, you won't find 13 any place." He read out loud. It was clearly a riddle.

Late on, Bruce was back home and his daughter was relaxed. She had gotten in a few more hours of sleep, which had calmed her down by a lot. She was still upset, but she was dealing with it. "It's a clock you know." Alyson said out to her father as she laid out on the couch, holding the message above her head as she read it over and over again. When her dad didn't answer she looked up over the side of the couch to see that he wasn't even paying attention to her. "Dad!" She called out. "The riddle, I know what it means." She spoke out more loudly to him.

She was trying to get his attention, which was proving to be more of a hassle then it should have been. "So do I. A clock, right?" Bruce said to her. She nodded her head silently to him, causing him to smile proudly. He was happy to know that she was smart enough to figure out a riddle, especially one like this. She laid back down, wondering why someone would send this thing to her dad. A few minutes later, Bruce just happened to glance over at the clock in the room and saw that it was pass midnight already. "You should be getting to . . . bed." He started to say but saw that his daughter had already fallen a sleep on the couch.

Even with all the sleep she had gotten, she was still wiped out. "Shall I get some blankets for the young miss, sir?" Alfred said out to him from the doorway to the room. He knew what the answer to his question was going to be before the other man had even said it though.

Bruce shook his head 'no' to him and moved around the couch. He carefully picked his daughter up in his arms, her half a sleep self unknowingly wrapping her arms around his neck, as he carried her to the stairs. "Good night, Alfred." Bruce said out to the older man as he looked back at his old friend once more before heading up the left stairway toward her bed room. He looked down at his daughter and smiled softly to himself. She looked so innocent.

This was one of the rare moments that he didn't regret keeping his dark secret from her. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen to her if she knew about him being batman. He made it to her bed room, which thank god her door was already opened, and carried her inside. He carefully managed to pull back the covers before laying her down in the bed. He covered her up and kissed her head before leaving the room. If he had stayed a minute longer he would have noticed movement outside of her window. It was Edward on his his electric scooter. He would have seen him put another envelope on the front gates before driving away unnoticed.

Bruce was out of the house before Alyson had even woken up for the day. Alfred had found another envelope on the front gates and gave it to him as soon as he could. He didn't want to frighten his daughter, but he could tell that something was wrong. So he went to the one person he thought could help him. Chase Meridian. He pulled up to the police head quarters and got out of his car, walking right inside of the building. "Doctor Meridian?" He asked out to the cop at the desk. The man pointed to the stairs on his right. "Thank you." Bruce said to him as he followed where the man had pointed.

He had found the room in no time, only he stopped when he heard struggling inside of the room that Doctor Meridian was in. He hurried to the door and tried to open it, but the doors were locked tight. He then charged the door, breaking it down in one hard slam. Chase gasped out, taking a step away from her punching back to see that he had broken down her door.

Bruce had tried to explain himself, but only came out stuttering as he put the door back to where it was. She made a joke about him paying for a new door when he introduced himself. "Chase Meridian. How can I help you, Mr. Wayne?" She asked him as she held out her hand. He shook her hand, getting entranced by her.

He realized that he was staring and she was waiting for him to tell her what he was doing here. "Somebody's been sending me love letters. Commissioner Gordon thought you might give me your expert." He said to her as he handed her the first riddle and the second one that Alfred had found that morning.

Chase spread out the riddlers before her. Bruce tapped his fingers absentmindedly as he watched her read them over. How many times had he himself read them over? He still didn't understand them. Alyson hadn't even a clue that there was another riddle. She had seen the first one, but hadn't really been able to find the true meaning of the card either. "Psychiatrists make you nervous?" Chase asked out to him.

This guy knew more about him than he would like. Where he lived for example. That put his daughter in harms way. That's what worried him the most about this. "Just one this beautiful." He tried to joke with her, but she saw right through him. She knew that these were concerning to him, and he had every right to be concerned.

From what she could see by these riddles, who ever was doing this? Well, it was simple. They were obsessed with Bruce. "The infamous Wayne charm. Does it ever shut off?" Chase laughed out to him, trying to lighten the mood in the room.

At least the mood for jokes were still in the room. "On occasion. Usually at night or when I'm with my daughter." Bruce said to her as he stopped tapping, examining the books on aberrant behavior. He noticed a doll in a box that was both dark and light. He picked it up and looked it over quickly. "Still play with dolls, doctor?" He asked her as he looked at the doll.

She took pride in her trinkets, as did she in her work. "She's a Malaysian dream warden. She stands sentry while you sleep and calms your dreams." She explained to him. She caught Bruce's new expression. Fear. "Need one?" She asked him. He definably looked like he could use one for himself.

He shook his head 'no' to her quickly. "Me? No. Only things that need calming in my dreams are the Rockettes. Though my daughter likes collecting things with history behind them." Bruce said to her, trying to get the topic away from his dreams. That was a scary thought there all on it's own.

Chase held his eyes for a second, obviously not buying what he had just told her for a second, but she let it go regardless. She looked back over at the letters quickly for another time. "My opinion." She started to say as she motioned to the riddles. "This letter writer is a total wacko." She told him, causing him to chuckle a little.

"Wacko? That a technical term?"

He could have told her as much all on his own. That much about this 'writer' was pretty clear to anyone could had seen the riddles. "Patient apparently suffers from acute obsessional syndrome with potential homicidal styles. Work better for you?" She explained to him again.

He liked the simple term for what she had just said a lot better. "So what you're saying, this guy's a total wacko, right?" Bruce said to her, causing Chase to smile slightly with a nod.

They both share an amused look. "Exactly." She said to him. He then noticed her batman research on her desk. He also spotted a framed print hanging on the wall of a bat.

She sure had a thing for bats it seemed. It made him a bit worried. What if her interest was a bit too much? What if she got too close to his secret? "You have a thing for bats?" He asked her.

Chase followed his gaze to the picture. "That's a rorschach, Mr. Wayne." She told him. "People see what they want to." Chase explained to him. Bruce looked back up at the painting. In fact, it was just an ink blot. Only, he saw a bat within it's bleeding lines. "I think the question would be, do you have a things for bats?" Chase asked him.

He felt his heart beat faster with nervousness. This woman kept him on his toes all right. "So, this Riddler, he's dangerous? Not only to me, but to my daughter Alyson too?" Bruce quickly changed the subject, which didn't go unnoticed by the blond woman in front of him, but she decided to leave it alone for now.

"What do you know about obsession?"

"Not much."

She found it hard to believe that for some reason. "Obsession is born of fear." She told him. "Recall a moment of great terror in your life. Say you associate that moment with . . . a bat. The bat's image becomes a cancer of the mind, grows more real than your daily life. Can you imagine something like that?" Chase asked him.

"It's a stretch but I'll manage."

She was trying to tie in her question to him and about the current conversation about this mystery wacko riddler writer. He was clearly not in the mood to share any private information with her tonight though. "The letter writer is obsessed with you. His only escape may be . . " Chase didn't have to finish, Bruce already knew what she was going to say.

"To kill me."

"You understand obsession better than you let on." Chase noticed.

"No insights here, doc. Just trying to get comfortable on your couch." He said to her as he checked his watch. "Opps. Times up. I was suppose to pick Alyson up in a few minutes. She wanted to head to this small town close to the city before we headed to the circus tonight." Bruce said to her as he made sure that he hadn't forgotten anything. "Look, I'd love to keep chatting . . ." He tried to say, but she cut him off.

She knew that he'd rather be anywhere else then with her right now. He obviously had something to hide from her. "Would you? I'm not so sure." Chase laughed out to him, knowing that he was just making up an excuse.

Bruce suddenly thought of an idea, and he was sure that Alyson wouldn't mind what he was about to do. "But I'm going to have to get you out of those clothes." Bruce grinned wickedly to her.

He knew how she had thought he meant by that. "Excuse me?" Chase said to him, not believing what he had just said to her.

His grin only grew by seeing her expression. ". . . And into a black dress." Bruce finished, throwing her startled expression his best smile. "I'm sure that Alyson won't mind an extra plus one tonight." He told her. "Tell me, doctor, do you like the circus?" Bruce asked her. Despite herself, Chase smiles back at him.


	4. Massacre Under The Big Top

Thanks for all the reviews! I'll be happy to inform that Dick does get a romance in this *coughAlysoncough* He is going to be a little bit older than her, like one reviewer said about 18 I think. They're be meeting in the next chapter though, so tell me what you think when it's posted lol I do not own anything in this fiction, besides Alyson, everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 4!

On the lapping edge of Gotham Harbor, searchlights swept the sky. Flags fluttered on the Hippodrome's oval roof. Limos spilled Gotham's finest. It seemed like the night of the season. Inside music was playing loudly and clowns were everywhere. "Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls of all ages, welcome to the greatest show on earth." The ringmaster said out into his mike.

Outside on the red carpet Bruce was walking with Chase on his right and Alyson on his left. While Bruce and Chase wore an elegant dress and tux, his daughter was dressed up more simple but still managed to look just as beautiful. Reporters were surrounding them, asking a million questions about who Chase was. They all knew and adored Alyson, but the main focus tonight was on Chase and her dad tonight, not that she minded not being in the spot light for one night.

Once inside, they met up with Commissioner Gordon. They went to find their seats quickly after. "Ladies and gentleman. Seventy feet about the ground, preforming feats of aerial skill without a net, the flying Graysons!" The ringmaster yelled out into his mike. Up above were the 'Flying Grayson'. Mother, father, and two sons were all wearing colorful red and green outfits with yellow capes.

They discarded their capes, waving to the crowds below. The lights dim, spot lights following each Grayson family member. The father and older of the two, Chris, Grayson hang by their knees, upside down on the opposite trapezes. The mother jumped to Chris' hands, hanging in mid-air. He swung back and forth, building momentum, then send her to the father in a poetic double somersault.

In the VIP section, Bruce, Alyson, and Chase had all taken their seats amidst a barrage of flashing photographers. The Gotham Society matrons crowd for a photo op. Chase noticed how it annoyed Alyson a little, but no one would really notice if they weren't really looking at her. Bruce on the other hand didn't look like the flashes bother him at all. "I'm surprised neither of you aren't blind by now." Chase whispered out to the two of them.

Alyson giggled softly, but was too entranced by what was going on to say anything in return. Her dad turned to Chase. "I'm sorry. Who are you?" He joked with her, causing her to smile and Alyson to roll her eyes at how cheezy her dad was. She wasn't completely happy the that she was with them. She had wanted it to be just her and him tonight. A father and daughter kind of thing.

Chase wasn't that bad though she had found, and she made her dad happy as far as she could see. The three didn't even notice that the press and Matrons had disappeared. "Tonight's benefit has raised $375,000 for Gotham Children's Hospital. Let's thank out largest single donor, Bruce Wayne!" The ring master announced out to the crowd.

The spotlights quickly found Bruce, Alyson, and Chase in their seats. They all smiled nicely and waved to the few around them. The crowd erupted into wild applause upon getting the attention. "Like normal folks." Chase said sarcastically through her fake smile.

Alyson just giggled softly to herself, knowing that this was far from a normal trip to the circus, but it was normal for her, so she didn't mind. Bruce was just happy to see both of the girls beside him happy and laughing. "What? This isn't normal?" Bruce out laughed to the girls.

Their conversation was drowned out by the crowd. "And now Richard, the youngest Flying Grayson, will preform The Quadruple Flying Somersault!" The ringmaster shouted over the microphone. Alyson's eyes instantly found the youngest Grayson son. He was handsome, she had to admit that. He jumped to his father's hands, dizzying, four times. Chris caught his brother's hands.

Their grip is shaky and one hand slips free, causing the crowd to gasp. Dick dangled for an instant before Chris hoisted him to safety. Chase watched both Alyson and Bruce, the two of them were riveted, eyes like a young child's. "That kid is amazing." He said out, his daughter nodding in agreement with him.

Chase shook her head, not understanding him at all. "I don't get you, Bruce Wayne." She shouted out to him over the music. Alyson rolled her eyes, knowing that this was going to be one of those moments 'they remember when they're old and telling their grand children'. She shook her head at those thoughts. Chase might be the 'girl who makes him happy' right now, but come next year? She'll be some other blond girl.

She wasn't going to dwell on the up coming future relationships for her father though. She was going to be happy with the girl present in his life. She didn't hate Chase, which was a rare thing to happen. "Me? I'm easy. Especially after a couple of martinis." Bruce joked happily with her, causing both girls to roll their eyes now.

Chase was serious though. Alyson could tell that she was figuring out her dad faster than anyone else could before. "The glib, cavalier routine, it really is an act, isn't it?" She asked him.

"Don't believe it. I'm just skin deep."

As much as she wanted to be happy for her dead, she wanted to actually watch the show going on in front of them. "Would you guys shush? He's going the stunt without a net." Alyson hissed to them. Bruce raised up his hands in mock surrender and the three continued to watch the show. The drum rolled before Dick swung off, letting go and somersaulting into the air.

The crowed grew silent, cheers erupting the second when the father of the Grayson's caught his hands. The two swung back to the plat form. "Look, I'm rock climbing Sunday with Allie. How about coming along?" Bruce asked the older blond next to him. Alyson was simply surprised with her dad. Since when were they going rock climbing on Sunday?

She kept quiet though, not wanting to ruin her dad's chances of getting another date with Chase. "Bruce, much to my surprise, you seem like a really great guy . . ." She trailed off, not knowing what to say that wouldn't sound like a bitch.

"But . . ." Bruce helped her start again.

She wasn't going to lie to him though. She had fun tonight, but her heart was still hoping for another. "Well, I met someone . . ." Chase blurted it out to him. Alyson's jaw dropped to the floor. She wasn't expecting that.

Neither was Bruce apparently. He had a feeling on who it was that had captured the blond's heart before he could. "Fast work. You just moved here." Bruce looked actually hurt, and Alyson suddenly hated this woman for doing that to him.

She didn't mean to hurt him though. She's rather tell him the truth then lead him on though. "You could say he kind of dropped out of the sky and _bang_." Chase said to him, a dreamy look in her eyes when talking about batman. Bruce knew that was who she was talking about, but they didn't know that he did. So he had to act like he didn't already know. "I think he felt it too." If only she knew.

How could he tell her that she was dead on with out telling her and Alyson how he knew that? It wasn't like he could just tell them he was friends with the Batman. That would sound even worse than he saying he was Batman. "He sure did." Bruce muttered to himself, not knowing that they had heard him. He hadn't meant for them to hear him though.

"What?" Chase asked out to him confused.

Bruce cleared his throat, suddenly feeling awkward now. "I said, I'm sure he did." He quickly saved himself. Bruce then turned his attention back to the center ring. A tiny car, horn honking away, roared into the middle ring and began dislodging clowns, all tumbling out of the cars and over each other.

A new ringmaster steps into the arena. Two-Face. "Ladies and gentlemen, and I do use the term loosely, your attention please. Tonight, a new act for your amusement. We call it 'Massacre Under the Big Top'." Two-Face announced out to the crowd into the microphone. His thugs slipped out of their clown costumes and seal every exit.

They pull out machine guns and start shooting over the audience's head. Bruce, without hesitation, covered his daughter without a second thought. "People, people. Show some grace under pressure. A little decorum, please." Two-Face said out calmly before raising the mike back up to his mouth. "Shut up!" He shouted into his mike.

More machine guns bursts as thugs move into sentry positions at each section of bleachers. The people quickly quieted. "If we may direct your attention . . ." He said out as he motioned to some of his thugs. A thug trained a spot on a crate hung in the rafters. "Inside that wooden box, two hundred sticks of TNT." He said out as he motioned to the giant crate. "In our hand, a radio detonator." Two-Face pressed a button. A digital countdown began. " You have three minutes." He then told the crowd.

"What the hell do you want?" The mayor yelled out.

He seemed more amused than anything. This was all just a game to him. "Want, Mr. Mayor? Just one little thing. Batman. Bruised. Broken. Bleeding. In a word, dead." Two-Face turned, showing his good side to the other half of the arena. "Who do we have assembled before us? Gotham's finest. Rich, Influential. Smart. One of you must know who Batman is. Hell, we'd lay odds one of you is Batman." Two-Face said out to the crowd.

He spun around again, this time offering his evil side for all to see. "So, unless the bat is surrendered to us post haste, we're off on a proverbial killing spree. City wide mayhem and murder. Starting tonight. With all you lovely folks as our very first corpses to be. You have three . . . well, just under three, minutes." Two-Face explains to them all.

Bruce, his eyes riveted on the bomb. No secret is worth innocent lives. Alyson's life. He stood up on his feet. Chase and Alyson, misunderstanding, were trying to pull him back down. "Harvey! I'm batman! I'm batman!" Bruce yelled out, trying to be heard over the crowd, but the panic was just too loud. Not even Alyson or Chase could hear him clearly over everyone's screaming.

Alyson looked up and gasped as what she saw. She grabbed her dad's hand, quickly getting his and Chase's attention. Suddenly everyone who is still sitting jumped up, joining in on the shouting and screaming, pointing toward the rafters. The Graysons scaled the scaffolding, heading straight for the bomb. "Boys! Move, move, move!" Two-Face shouted out. "Cannot get good help these days." He said to himself.

Any thugs not standing sentry fan out, speeding up guywires. "Go! We'll hold them off!" Chris yelled out to his brother. Dick's mom, dad, and brother all swung from the trapeze to the guywire to the platform, trying to delay the thugs who are actually well-trained gymnasts. Dick launched himself from trapeze to trapeze, bouncing off of the high wire. He grabbed onto a catwalk and hoisted himself up.

Bruce used the distraction to hop onto the railing, racing through the screaming crowd. "Dad, nooo!" Alyson screamed out fearfully. She wanted to run after him, but Chase and Commissioner Gordon held her back from running after her dad. The time is getting closer, not more than a minute left. On the trapeze, a thug grabbed the father of the Grayson by the leg. He managed to jump to another trapeze. Mom's not so lucky though.

A thug punched her off of the uppermost platform. She fell back into mid-air. The crowd screamed out in horror. Bruce moved fast toward one of the sentry thugs. Mom snagged a woldly swinging trapeze with one leg, wrapping her ankle around a rope, now hanging over the floor. A thug pointed to the time clock, not more than 30 seconds left. The thugs quit the fight, sliding down the ropes and guywires. Dad and Chris form a human chain to reach mom. Dad anchors his son, who swung out toward their mother. She swung her trapeze to gather momentum. In the rafters, Dick had reached the bomb. He began to un-lash the crate.

On the circus floor, the thugs begin to pour through the trap door. A few thrill seekers fired their machine guns over the crowd. With out even thinking, Chase kept Alyson close to her and out of range of any gun fire. The timer was almost up, almost ten second left. Dick scaled a service ladder that vies with a roof hatch. Dan, the father of the Graysons, and his eldest son made their final swing. Mom let go and sailed gloriously toward her son. Below them, there was no net. Bruce tapped the on watching thug on the shoulder. He spun around to face Bruce. "Shows over." He said out before he punched the guy, knocking him out cold.

Bruce started for Two-Face. Another thug sprung up before him, blocking Bruce's way. Two-Face stared up at the dangling Graysons. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a familiar coin. "Day in, day out, it always comes down to the same old question. Life . . ." He said out as he flipped the coin into the air. "Or death." He said out as it lands in his hand. He looked down at it, the scarred half of his face side up. He drew his gun. "Our kind of day." Two-Face said out to himself. Bruce had managed to take down the other thugs and started to sprint across the ring toward Two-Face.

At the roof, Dick shoved the hatch open, climbing out of it with the bomb. The timer was almost up, only seconds left. Inside, his mother spotted the pointing gun far below and screamed out. Bruce raced for the aiming Two-Face, he was almost there. Another thug hit him broadside, knocking him down flat. Two-Face open fired. Twice, the first bullet cutting, the second severing the rope that held the Graysons. "Never did like the circus. Too many freaks." Two-Face said out before he disappeared down the tunnel. Bruce struggled to his feet. A charge blew inside the escape hatch, filling the access way with fire. No way out.

On the roof, an unknowing Dick, scrambled on to the roof. He began to whip the bomb's rope around like a sling. He let the bomb go, letting it soar out toward the harbor. The bomb hit the water just before it exploded. He swung excitedly down onto the catwalk. He froze suddenly at the rail. "_Noooooo!_" Bruce suddenly looked up. He spotted the young man above him, his expression all too familiar. He looked as if his life had ended. The dead bodies of his mother, father, brother laid flat on the floor of the center ring.


	5. The Deal Breaker

Okay, making it official lol I hope you all like Alyson and Dick!

Dick - 17

Alyson - 16

I do not own anything in this fiction, everything belongs to their rightful owners, except Alyson, everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 5!

The next afternoon, a police car was headed toward the Wayne Manor. Dick Grayson, with only a back pack on his back, wound his motorcycle behind the cruiser. Bruce came out to greet Gordon. Dick, slightly awestruck, dismounted from his bike and wandered into the house. "It's good of you to take him in. He's been filling out forms all day. He hasn't even eaten." Gordon told him in a hushed voice. "I know you already have Alyson to take care of, Bruce. One teenager is enough for any single parent." Commissioner Gordon explained to him.

He nodded silently as he watched Gordon drive off. He headed back into the manor once the cruiser was out of sight. As Bruce entered through the open door, Alfred arrived from the other direction. He couldn't help but notice that Alyson wasn't in the room already. He had told her about Dick staying with them for a while. He had to make she that she would be comfortable with it before he made any permanent decisions concerning who lived in their home with them. "Welcome, Master Grayson. I'm Alfred." The old man introduced himself to the young man.

He hadn't been explained a lot about who he was living with by the police. He had just wanted to get out of the police station. Like that Bruce already had a teenager living with him was another thing he hadn't asked to know. That was just common knowledge to anyone who lived in Gotham or anywhere Wayne Tech sold products though, so they didn't think to tell him otherwise. "How ya doin', Al?" Dick asked the old man, already giving the him a nick name.

Alfred looked at him a bit shocked. That was a new one for the books. "Al?" Alfred mouthed out to himself. He was testing out the name. He had always been called Alfred before, or the brief 'Fred' from when Alyson was little and couldn't say the 'Al' part of his names. That was quite a long time ago though.

The young man looked around the manor. He couldn't help but notice how huge it was. He couldn't help but notice the rare pink objects around as well. He didn't really see how they went with the museum theme going on with the rest of the place, but he wasn't about to question it. "Big house. How many rooms?" Dick asked out to them as he turned to Bruce.

That seemed to amuse the older man if anything else. He still remembered the day Alyson had asked him the same exact question, and back when he himself had asked Alfred the same question as well. "Gee, I'm not sure." Bruce said amused to the young man sarcastically as he turned to look at Alfred across the foyer. "Alfred? How many rooms? Total?" He asked out to the old man.

He seemed to be just as amused by the question as Bruce was. "Ninety-three, including the sauna." Alfred informed the two men before him. He had made sure to count every single one since he started working for the Waynes. It had forever stayed locked in his mind since then.

Dick didn't seem to be as amused as the other two men were though. He seemed more bored out of his mind if anything really. "Take any three you like, besides the already in use bed rooms. After you get settled we can . . ." He trailed off when he noticed that Dick wasn't listening to him at all.

He was staring over Bruce's shoulder as Gordon's cruiser finally disappeared out of sight. It seemed like he was just waiting for that. "Okay. I'm outta here." He suddenly said out to the two men before him.

"Excuse me?" Bruce said to him confused.

He didn't seem that concerned by his confusion. It didn't matter anyways, he was going to be gone in a minute anyways. "I figure telling that cop I'd stay here saved me a truckload of social service interviews and good will. So no offense, but thanks. See ya." Dick said to him as he headed for the door with Bruce following behind.

Alfred slipped away from the two men up the stairs unnoticed. What he was up to, they didn't know nor notice. "Where will you go? The circus is halfway to Metropolis by now." Bruce said to him as he watched the young man get ready to leave on his bike.

He wasn't about to let him leave the manor. He had taken on the responsibility of caring for him. He knew where this boy's head was though. He had been there himself at a point in his life. He wasn't going to let the same thing that had happened to him happen to this boy before him. Never. Not again. "I've got no place at the circus without my family. I'm going to get a fix on Two-Face. Then I'm going to kill him." Dick said out to him as he buckled up his helmet.

Bruce could clearly remember when he had said the same things as the young man before had just said. It was like his childhood happening all over again. It was replaying all over right before his eyes again. "Listen, Dick. Killing Two-Face won't take the pain away. It'll make it worse." He should know as much after all.

The boy didn't want to hear it though. Nothing was going to stand between him and his revenge. Nothing. "Look, spare me the sermons, okay? You're just some rich guy who is trying to do a good deed. You don't even know me." Dick said bitterly to the older man before him. Bruce couldn't help but see where he was coming from. If roles were reversed, he would be doing and saying the same exact things.

Bruce stared beyond the young man, into his own past memories. "It's not just the sadness. Is it? The shame is worse. Feeling like some how you should have saved them." Bruce paused, noticing that the teen was looking at him now. "You're right. I don't know you. But I'm like you." Bruce glanced down and noticed that he was low on gas for his bike. "Why don't you stay long enough to fill up your tank. There isn't another gas station around for miles, and I've got some in the garage." Bruce offered the young man.

Dick looked back at him, not believing that he wasn't giving up yet. If it was any other rich guy, he would have given up the second he said that he was out of there. Bruce hadn't done that yet though. He followed him to the garage anyways. The second that he had saw Bruce's collection of bikes, his jaw had dropped right to the floor. He admired the bikes in awe.

Before any words could form from his lips, a crash was heard from some where close by, followed by a female squeak of a scream. Bruce chuckled softly to himself, obviously knowing who it was that was in the garage with them. Dick was just plain confused, but he was now interested to know who it was. "You okay over there, pumpkin?" Bruce called out to the mystery girl. He chuckled out again, amused when he head another crash of a tool hitting the floor. "Sweetheart?" He called out to her again, making Dick more curious by the second.

He knew that the young man was curious. He hated using his daughter, and he hadn't meant to, but he really didn't want Dick to do what he knew was going to try to do if he did leave. "I'm fine. I just can't figure this stupid thing . . . out." Alyson said out as she came out from behind some of the cars. She stopped when she saw Dick watching her in curiosity. Bruce chuckled softly to himself, finding this moment beyond funny. "Uh, I didn't know that, um . . . our guest was here." She said to him nervously as she rubbed her arm. She was a mess, completely covered in grease. "I would have cleaned up a little if I did." She told him, sending him an accusing look.

How could he not warn her that the kid would be here? Was he trying to embarrass her? Was it a dad thing, or just something her dad likes to do? This wouldn't be the first time he caught her off guard like this. Alyson blushed madly when she noticed that Dick was staring at her with curious, hungry, eyes. "I think he may be staying, the bikes seem to have caught his attention." He said her, glancing between the two with an amused expression. ". . . Among other things, it would seem." Bruce told his daughter, whom just rolled her eyes at him.

The garage was always the deal breaker for almost everything. "Did you tell him about the deal yet?" Alyson asked out to her father, causing the young man to become even more confused now. He looked her over as he stood back up onto his feet. She was pretty cute, if you went for the whole 'pure innocence' thing. She was covered in grease, which only made him chuckle. It made her a lot cuter. She wasn't just a rich girl, she could get dirty if she wanted to.

Regardless, she looked way too young to be this guy's girlfriend. She didn't look like the gold digging type, and he didn't seem like the type to go for one who the hell was this girl? "Not yet. I'm going to go tell Alfred to make sure to put an extra plate at the table for dinner just in case. How about you tell him instead?" Bruce said to her as he left the two alone.

Alyson felt her cheeks heat up suddenly, knowing that her dad had purposely left them alone. He wanted this guy to stay with them. She knew that much about the situation. He saw something in him that reminded him of himself. He wanted the two to get along as well. "So, uh, this deal thing? What's that about?" Dick asked her once Bruce was gone from the garage.

She looked back at him, a blush still present on her pale cheeks. "Oh, it's just something my dad does when he wants me to work for something. To keep me from being all spoiled and bratty, I think. He says if I fix up one of these cars or bikes, any of my choice, I get to keep it. Obviously, it wouldn't be me fixing the bike if you want it. I can't even fix one car." Alyson explained to him, catching herself before she started rambling on.

He chuckled slightly to himself, amused by how she had looked when she had said that. She had a twinkle in her eye when she laughed. "Sounds like an unfair deal, for you anyways. You not know anything about cars?" Dick asked out to her as he took a step closer to her. She just continued to blush and shook her head 'no' to him. "Guess I'll have to stay around here to teach you then." He chuckled softly to her as he came face to face with her.

He rubbed the grease on her cheek off, causing her to blush like crazy. Her face must be beet red by now. Her skin was even softer than it had looked, and it looked pretty soft to begin with. "I guess so, but fair warning? I'm a hopeless cause." She laughed out nervously to him as she took a step back from him. Dick couldn't help but chuckle upon watching her.

He suddenly remembered that she had said dad, not Bruce. "You said dad. Bruce, he's your dad?" Dick asked her. She nodded her head 'yes' to him. He wasn't worried though. It wasn't like he was gonna cross _the_ line and start something serious with this girl. She wasn't his type anyways. Too girly, even if she is trying to fix a car up so she can have it. "Nice, so show me to this car of yours." He said to her, motioning for her to lead the way to the car.

She nodded silently over to him, leading the way over to a turn key 427 Cobra Replicas. He had to admit, it was a good choice for a car. He had to wonder why she had picked it though. Besides the obvious need of a new hood to the car because of all the dents, it needed a serious new paint job as well. It looked like a piece of junk in the state it was in at the moment. "Something's wrong with the brakes, and it won't start. I can't figure out what's wrong with it at all." Alyson explained to him as he took a look under the top of the car.

She took the chance to check him out, and was she right about what she had thought the first night she had seen him at the circus. He was quite a looker up close in person. "Do you want me to check out the car, or would you rather just check me out instead?" Dick asked out to her, startling her out of her thoughts. She jumped, her eyes buldging in humiliation. He chuckled softly to himself and turned to face her. "I never did catch a name, besides pumpkin and sweetheart, unless one of those are your real name?" Dick said to her, a smirk in place as always.

She shifted nervously on her feet. "Well, uh, no. It's not pumpkin or sweetheart." She laughed nervously to him. "It's Alyson, actually." She told him. He nodded silently, looking her over once again. Alyson was an innocent name. It fit her look very well, perfectly actually. She obviously didn't know how to dress while fixing up a car though. She was in a pair shorts and a tank top. If she wasn't careful, she could easily cut herself on something.

She blushed once again upon seeing him staring at her. He chuckled slightly, already loving her blush. Dick leaned against the car and looked her over . . . _again_. She was wearing a baby blue tank top that showered most of her mid section and a pair of jean shorts. Her shirt had grease on it, but even then she still looked hot. He was about to speak up again, but was interrupted by a throat clearing.

Alyson jumped, spinning around on her heels to see Alfred with a tray of food. "Your father wasn't sure, Miss Alyson. Is the young master leaving?" Alfred asked her, giving her a look that told her that he already knew the young man would be staying with them. "Pitty. I'll just toss this away then. Per hasp the dogs are hungry . . ." Alfred trailed off as he turned to lead and head back into the main house. "I'll set this up in the guest suite. Just in case." Alfred said out to them both before he disappeared into the main house again.

Alyson had to hold in her laughter while he was walking away from them, but she was finding it harder said than done. The old man could have his funny moments when he wanted them. "Master bedroom, huh?" The teen behind her spoke up, breaking the silence that had come over them both. "What do you have then? The princess's suite?" Dick joked with her as they headed back inside the manor themselves.

Alyson giggled happily with him, shaking her head. "You could say that, I guess." She told him. "The master bed room is in my wing of the manor. My dad's room is on the other side." Alyson made a point of pointing that out to him. She giggled softly when she saw his expression. "Before you get any ideas, hot shot, Alfred has strict orders to make hourly rounds when we're both home from my dad." She informed him as they headed upstairs together.

He wasn't going to be put down that quickly though. "I'm sure that I'll figure something out." Dick chuckled out to her as they came up to where he presumed his room was. She blushed again and giggled as she opened his door for him. "You coming in to help me finish that big meal Al brought up, princess?" Dick asked her, hoping that she would say yes.

She shook her head 'no' though, knowing that it would be a bad idea if she stayed in his room. He pushed back the feeling of disappointment from seeing her say no to him. Why should he care if she comes into his room or not though? "Not this time. I'll see you later for dinner though." Alyson said to him sweetly before she left to go to her own room until Alfred called them down for dinner. Dick watched her retreating form and grinned mischievously to himself.

He was going to like it here. All thoughts of revenge against Two-Face were pushed back in his head as well Though they were not completely gone, they were not the only thing on his mind at the moment. Down stairs in the library, Bruce was in there alone. He touched a vase full of fresh Roses. Alyson had found them in the garden and couldn't resist bringing them into the house. He stared at a framed photo of his father, mother, and a younger version of himself. They were happy, not having a clue of what was going to come of them in the future.

He turned around and suddenly there were their coffins in the middle of the room again, their still corpses inside them white in death. He was only a boy at the time. There, on the desk not far ahead, was a leather bound book. Outside thunder errupted through out the sky. The front door flew open, and evil wind whipping at the house. The book was splatter with blood. The window exploded, shattering glass, and out of the darkness flew a huge, evil bat. "Master Bruce?" Alfred's voice returned him from his thoughts.

Bruce was now sitting in a chair, holding onto a rose, his head down, the images were only flashed of his memory. Night has now fallen, dinner had already come and gone. He looks up, his eyes red. "It's happening again. Just like my parents. A monster comes out of the night. A scream. Two gunshots. I killed them." Bruce whispers to himself, not really acknowledging that Alfred was there at all.

He still blamed himself, even after all these years. He still saw it as his fault. He had wanted to leave early that night. He had wanted to go to the show that night, not any of the others that it was playing. "What did you say?" Alfred asked him, wanting to know if he heard him right or not.

Bruce looked up to face the old men. "He killed them. Two-Face. He slaughtered that boy's parents." Bruce covered up for what he had said the first time, but Alfred doesn't buy it.

"No. You said I. I killed them." Alfred says to him.

He didn't want to burden any of the others with his dears though. They didn't deserve it. Especially his daughter. Alfred had been put through enough, but she was innocent. "Don't be ridiculous." Bruce said to him, only to then notice a sudden pale light though the window that illuminates the room. The bat signal beamed up in the sky. Without another word, Bruce left the room, leaving Alfred alone in the library.


	6. Where's Batman?

Thanks for the reviews, sorry for the wait! This chapter is mostly a filler so I'll try to get another up quickly. I do not own anything, besides Alyson, in this story. Everything else belongs to their rightful owners, even Robin, sadly.

Chapter 6!

!

Alyson was snuggled up in the den with a warm blanket wrapped around her and a good book in her hands. Her hair was tied up into a messy bun, her bangs touching the tips of her eyes with a few loose stands framing her face. The tv was on, but she was paying it no attention what so ever.

_' . . . working with Two-Face, Gotham's new criminal mastermind is calling himself The Riddler. Twenty million in diamonds were stolen yesterday with no sign of Batman.' _

Alyson glanced up, moving a stand of her blond hair out of her face as she looked over at the television. She heard a throat clear and looked behind her to see her dad leaning against the door way. She looked back at the tv slowly, a question running through her mind. Where was Batman?

Edward stood up on the Claw Island. A small abandoned island in Gotham Harbor. _'In other news, entrepreneur Edward Nygma has signed a lease for Claw Island. Nygma says he plans to break ground on an electronics plat . . .'_ The news anchor continued on to say.

Armored trucks sat open on the street. Two-toned thugs carry out bags of loot. Two-Face and the riddler stand before four guards, each sentry held captive by a two-toned crony. "Close your first. Reach back." Two-Face demonstrated as he swung, clocking the guard on the chin. Crack. He's out like a light. "Get it?" He turned to face Riddler. The man in green nodded tentatively. He managed a weak fist, throwing a feeble punch. The guard looked barely startled though. "Riddler. You punch like a girl. Put some heart into it." Two-Face said to him.

He hauled off, hitting the third guard. Out he goes too. "Okay. Okay. I got it." Riddler said to him as he leaned way back, trying again to get his punch right.

His next punch was barely a glancing blow though. "My god." Two-Face groaned out as he walked away, shaking his head at Riddler, disgusted by the attempts. The Riddler turned back to the guard, ready for another try.

_'Riddler & Two-Face Terrorize Gotham.'_

Was the headline for the next morning's newspaper. Alfred sighed and closed the paper before walking off. He soon found Dick trying to open the door that he knew lead to the Bat cave, one door that Alyson herself has always wondered what lied on the other side when she was younger. "May I help you, Master Grayson?" Alfred said out to him as he descended down the rest of the stairs and over to Dick.

He had come to find this place just as boring as he had originally thought it was going to be. This place was nothing like the circus life. Not at all. The only upside about living here was Alyson. And this door, apparently. "How come this is the only locked door around this museum? What's back there?" Dick asked out to the old man.

Alfred glanced at the door, a small grin appearing on his old lips. "Master Wayne's dead wives." Alfred joked with the young man. Dick grinned regardless of his frustrations. "I think a young miss is waiting for you in the garage." He told him, giving him an old sly smile. "You shouldn't keep a young lady waiting you know." Alfred informed him. He nodded silently and took off. Alfred watched him go, a wry smile on his face. Once the coast is clear, he disappeared into the secret door way.

Dick entered the garage a few minutes later and grinned upon hearing the sound of tools falling to the ground. Yup, Alyson's in here alright. He followed the noise of her muttering and found her glaring at the car that she was trying to fix. He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, causing her to yelp and jump around to face him. She let out a breath of relief when she saw him and put her hand over her heart. "You scared me." She told him. "What are you doing out here?" Alyson asked him as she wiped her hands off on her jeans.

Dick's grin faded away, a wave of confusion crossing over his face. Hadn't Alfred said that she was waiting for him in here? "Alfred said you were waiting for me in here." He told her. Alyson rolled her eyes, not believing that old man. "Let me guess, you weren't waiting for me?" Dick came to the conclusion. Alyson shook her head 'no', embarrassed that this had happened. "I'll, uh, just go then." Dick said to her awkwardly as he turned to leave the garage and let her get back to work.

Alyson bit her lip, debating on something in her head. "Wait!" She called out to him quickly. He paused where he stood, waiting for her to say something. "Since you're already here, and offering to help me, do you want to stay in here and give a girl a hand?" She said shyly out to him, hoping that he didn't turn her down.

Dick grinned playfully to himself before he turned around to face her. "Let the car lessons begin." He said out to her with a slight chuckle before walking back over to her. Alyson giggled and shook her head at him. She handed him a wrench and listened on as he filled her in on details about the engine of her car. Dick glanced at her every few seconds and could tell that she actually wanted to listen to what he was saying.

Tremendous construction were in progress. Silhouettes of robot arms manufactured the Box. Edward watched on, giving Two-Face a quick hit from a glowing electrode, then snatched back the receiver. Harvey eyed the electrode with an addict's hungry eyes.

Later, on the loading docks Two-Face and some of his thugs stole the priceless paintings while the guards sit bound and gagged in their booth. Riddler stared up at a freshly spray-painted riddler on the boat's hull.

Hours later in the garage, the two were still working on the old car. Or, well, he was still working on it. "Didn't you say that you have to fix the car to get it?" He asked out to her as he noticed her falling a sleep inside of the car. She nodded tiredly to him. "So how did I end up doing all the work?" He got no answer. She had fallen a sleep on him.

As much as it killed him to not watch her sleep, he didn't want this to end. He enjoyed working on the car with her. He wipped his hands off with a rag and walked over to the car driver's door. He leaned in and honked the horn loudly. Alyson jumped awake with a scream, looking around her surroundings frantically. Her eyes landed on a laughing Dick Grayson and her eyes narrowed. "There are nicer ways to wake people up, you know." She hissed as him, only making him laugh more. He just rolled his eyes at her and motioned her out of the car by opening the car door for her. "Did you fix the car?" She asked him as she got out of the car.

He shook his head, only confusing her more. "I'm not doing all your dirty work, princess. I said that I would help you, not do it for you. Now come on, time to get working." He said to her, motioning her to look at the engine. She did as he said and looked over the engine. He noticed that she didn't have a clue at what she was supose to be looking at and shook his head. "Here, look. The brake line is broken." Dick explained to her as he leaned over her.

Alyson tried to listen to him, but she found it hard to pay attention with his hot breath hitting the back of her neck. "And that's a bad thing?" Alyson shyly asked him. Dick couldn't believe that she just asked him that. He couldn't not laugh at her question, which only made her blush.

She didn't have a clue about any of this though. She was bound to ask him stupid questions. "Yeah, if you don't want to crash, it's a bad thing." He chuckled to her, his breath hitting her loose hairs. She twisted around to look at him. She slid up more so she was sitting on the car and got more comfortable between him and the car.

He had one of his hands holding onto the cover of the car, while the other one was holding onto the car it's self. He was trapping her in between him and the car. "Are you laughing at me, Mr. Grayson?" Alyson asked him, a hint of laughter in her own voice. His eyes flickered from her face to her body.

It was no secret to him or her that he wanted her, but she wouldnt be just a notch on his belt. She wouldn't be anybody's belt notch, especially when she only met him a few days ago. "Course not." He said to her as he tilted his head, leaning in toward her. She froze, not knowing what to do. He paused right as he was seconds before his lips met her own, a smirk appearing on his lips. "I'm laughing at your question." He added on before jumping back before she could hit him, laughing at how shocked she looked.

Her jaw fell to the floor in shock. "Why you little . . . get back here!" She shouted out before hopping off of the car and running after him. She chased him around the different cars. She would slip every now and then, letting out a shriek of laughter as she did. "Grayson!" She yelled out as she tried to catch up to him. He just slid over the hood of one of the cars.

She took a short cut in between two of the cars, deciding to wait until she heard him coming closer. She heard footsteps coming closer and waited until the last moment to jump out from her hiding spot. "Gray . . ahh!" He didn't have enough time to stop running before he smashed into her, sending them both to the ground. He spun them around seconds before they hit the hard ground. He groaned from the impact and sat up on his elbows.

He looked up to see that she was straddling him now. "Ya got me, princess." He chuckled softly to her as he rubbed the soar spot on the back of his head. "Now what are ya gonna do to me?" He teased her, winking up at her. She rolled her eyes at him and playfully hit him on the chest. He mouthed 'ow' to her with a laugh. He noticed that she wasn't paying attention to him.

He flipped them around so now she was under him. She let out a squeak from the sudden pull. "What the hell was that for?" She shouted out at him, blushing at how close they were now. He chuckled slightly, pinning her hands above her head, his face just inches from her's. Her breath caught in her throat, not knowing what he was going to do now.

He grinned mischievously down at her upon seeing the look of want in her eyes. "Now, I got you." He whispered to her. "What am I gonna do with you now?" He chuckled in a low tone to her. She saw that his eyes were flickering between her eyes and her lips. She wasn't sure if she wanted them to kiss now. "What . . to . . do?" He said quietly as his lips were just seconds away from capturing her's.

A throat cleared behind them and the Alyson's head whipped around to see who it was. Dick let his head drop in annoyance. He was so close to kissing her. "Alfred!" She squeaked out, pushing him off of her quickly and getting to her feet. "It wasn't what it looked like. I swear. We were just messing around, and . . . and we, uh, you know, . . . fell." Alyson stuttered quickly, not wanting Alfred to think that something that wasn't happening was happening.

He, of course, knew exactly what was going on. "Your father is home and looking is for you." Alfred informed her. She nodded silently and went to leave when the old man stopped her. "It's alright, Miss. Alyson. With these old eyes, I didn't see a thing." He whispered to her with a slight chuckle. Alyson blushed even and nodded, hurrying to leave the garage.

Alfred and Dick both watched her leave, both chuckling at how silly she was when she got flustered. Dick got up off of the floor and brushed himself off. "She's something, isn't she Al?" He said to him as he moved next to Alfred.

The old man could see more than lust for the young woman he had grown to love as a grand daughter in Dick's eyes. "That she is, Master Dick. That she is." He said to him. "She'll grow up into a fine woman one day and meet a nice fine gentleman to wed." Alfred said to him, sneaking a glance to see the young man's reaction to that statement. He noticed that the boy had tensed up, his smile suddenly gone from his face. "Unless, of course, she falls for a man that is less of stick in the mud, as she so often calls them." Alfred continued on, a sly smile appearing on his old lips before he left. Dick's grin returned at the thought of Alyson not liking the stuck up rich guys. He left the garage too with thoughts of how to win her over without getting on Bruce's bad side.


	7. Doves, Robins, or Blue Jays?

Thanks for the reviews! I do not own anything in this fiction, except for Alyson, everything else belongs to their rightful owners. Even Robin, sadly.

Chapter 7

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The next morning, Bruce was at the office before Alyson even got up for the day. She wasn't surprised not to see him at the breakfast table, now Dick not being there was a surprise to her. She had come use to him being there the past few weeks to say good morning to at breakfast. When she got back to her room she noticed that her basket of dirty clothing was getting rather large. Laundry day it is then.

She picked up her basket and carried it the best that she could down to the laundry room. It took her what seemed forever to get down there. Her basket weighed like a ton. She didn't see how Alfred could carry her basket down to the laundry room, including her dad's too, and not die from exhaustion. She felt like she was going to fall over any second when she finally got down to the laundry room. She could faintly hear the drier running inside. Great, she's in luck! Alfred was already inside. "Alfred? Could you please open the door? This thing weighs like a ton." Alyson called out to the older man.

It was a few minutes before she heard movement on the other side of the door. The door open to reveal that it was Dick on the other side of the room. She would have guessed that he would have let Alfred do his laundry too, she obviously should have known better to make assumptions. "Here, let me take that for you." He said to her as he took the basket from her. Their hands touched for a second, a shock running through both of them the moment that skin touched skin.

Alyson blushed madly and quietly thanked him. He moved aside to let her inside of the room. She moved past him and saw Alfred folding her father's clothes. "Good morning, Alfred." She greeted the old man before she turned to see Dick putting her clothes into the washer. She blushed again when he picked up her bra and raised his eye brow at it as he glanced at her.

It figures it had to be the one that she used for when she went to parties and anywhere important. It was the black and white striped laced rimmed one. "I highly suggest that you wear this soon. I'd love to see you in it, princess." He said to her, catching the look that she was giving him. "Sorry, if you don't mind me saying that in front of you, Alfred." He said to the old man as he tossed it in with the rest of her clothes.

Alyson's jaw dropped to the floor, looking between the two men in shock. Alfred chuckled softly to himself as he shook his head. He didn't say anything back to the young man, he just kept folding the laundry. "Well, you won't be seeing that one, or any other under garments of mine on me any time soon." She scoffed to him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

He just chuckled softly to himself and picked up one of his pieces of clothing that had just come out of the washer. "Leave that, Master Dick. I will tend to it." Alfred spoke up upon seeing the young man going to dry his clothes.

Alyson didn't say a thing as she went to help Alfred out with her dad's laundry. "I'm not use to be waited on." Dick said to him before he began drying his own clothes using martial art moves. Alfred and Alyson shared a shocked look at they watched him. He wrung the water out of a pair of his sweats, leaving a puddle of water on the floor. He used the mop to hang it up on the clothing line. He, then, used the mop to clean up the water. "You're clothes are gonna be a while, princess. How about another car lesson?" He asked out to her as he mopped up the water. He winked at Alyson before pulling her out of the room, leaving Alfred snickering alone in the laundry room.

In the garage an hour later, Dick and Alyson were working hard on her future car. As their conversation died, the many questions he had had before to ask her resurfaced to his mind. One he knew that he could get an answer out of Alyson from. He didn't want to seem like he was using her just for answers, but he really needed them. He hated feeling left out of the loop. "So can I ask you something?" Dick broke the silence between them. Alyson popped out from under the car and nodded her head to him confused. "Why is it that only one door is locked out of every other room in this place?" He asked out to her, trying not to get distracted by the fact that she had grease on her face.

For some reason it only made her look more cute to him. He shook his head of those thoughts, he needed to stay on task. "So I see you found the 'secret' locked room then?" Alyson laughed out to him as she rolled out from under the car fully. He nodded curiously to her as he helped her up to his feet. "Thanks." She told him. "So, did Alfred give you the 'dead wife' line when he caught you trying to get inside the room?" She asked him as she brushed herself off.

"Yeah, how'd you know . . ."

She should have known that this was about the stupid door the second that Alfred had said she had been waiting for him that day in the garage when she wasn't, that that was what had happened. "He said the same thing to me when I was like ten, and was trying to get inside the room too." Alyson told him as she rubbed her arms with a slight shiver.

The garage could get really cold at night, especially if you're a skinny stick and only in a tank top and jeans. "You ever get inside of the room?" He asked out to her. She nodded her head as she tried to find something to help her get her mind off of the cold. "So what's inside?" He asked out to her. Alfred didn't seem like he would just let someone in where they're not suppose to go. He had to wonder just how she got inside the room. "How did you get in the room anyways?" He asked out to her before she could answer his first question.

He was very curious guy, she noticed. She was finding out something new about him every day it seemed. "It's just my dad's study. I have no idea why he locks it, but it's just a study." She told him. "There's this old serious elevator thing that the maids used to use to send food up when the past generations lived here. This one just happens to go to the study since it's above the old kitchen." She explained how she had gotten into the room to him. She saw the confused expression on his face and rolled her eyes. "My great grand parents renovated. They moved the kitchen up from the basement and made it bigger." She told to him. He nodded, now understanding a little bit more.

"Do you think . . ."

She knew exactly what he was going to ask her. "It won't fit you, Dick. I'm just barely able to fit in it now, and I'm like half the size of you." Alyson explained to him, squashing his plans of how he was going to get inside the room. He looked over at her when he heard teeth chattering and just noticed that she was trying not to shiver in front of him, and was failing miserably at it.

He shrugged off his sweat shirt as he walked up behind her and placed it on her shoulders. She jumped out of her cold skin, having not have known that he was behind her. "Does everything you own have a Robin on it?" She asked him as she saw the robin on the back of the sweatshirt. He gave her a puzzled look. "I saw your bike helmet the first day that you were here. It has a robin on it, if I'm correct." She explained to him.

He nodded silently to her, the thought of her sneaking through his room gone from his mind. He wouldn't have been surprised if it was about a few weeks ago, but now? Now, the thought hurt. Though, truth be told, the thought was not unwelcomed that much. "You not like robins?" He asked her.

She gave him a look, clearly asking him if he was insane. "Believe it or not, Robins are one of my favorite birds." She told him. He raised his hands up in a mock surrender.

He noticed that she wasn't shivering anymore, but he could tell that she was still freezing cold. "Let me guess your favorite." He said to her as he gave her a quick look over. "Your favorite bird is either . . . a dove or a blue jay?" He asked her. Her jaw dropped to the floor, or it would have if this was a cartoon. He chuckled softly to himself at the look on her face. "So which one is it?" He asked her, a grin playing on his lips when he knew that he was right.

She felt like an open book when she was with him. She didn't know if she liked that he knew her so well or not. "It's a dove." She told him. "They just make me think of snow. I love the snow." She said to him shyly. She didn't want to sound weird. "How did you know?" She asked him. He titled his head as he looked down at her.

She seemed to shine in front of him. She always looked best in winter colors. As far as he could tell, he's only seen her in blue and white. "For me? A dove makes me think of angels. So do you." He said to her honestly. She giggled softly and playfully hit him on arm. "What was that for? I mean it. You really do." He laughed out with her. He didn't care how cheesy he sounded, he was being totally honest with her.

He knew that they've only known each other for a few weeks, but he already knows that she's different from all the other girls that he's met before. "You're so cheesy, you know that, right?" She said out to him with a laugh, still rubbing her arms from the cold hitting her bare skin. She had gotten side tracked and completely forgot to actually put on the sweat shirt.

Dick chuckled slightly and nodded his head, giving her credit on that one. It was a really cheesy line to say to her. "Lets get you back inside the house before you freeze to death." He said to her as she slipped her arms into the sweatshirt. She nodded, silently thanking him before she followed him inside the Manor. Dick still wasn't going to give up on that 'secret' door, but needed to make sure that Alyson was warm and not going to freeze to death on him.


	8. Unexpected Surprises

Sorry for the wait! I do not own anything in this chapter, besides Alyson, everything else belongs to their rightful owners!

Chapter 8!

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It's been a couple days since Dick had asked Alyson about the 'secret door', as she had called it. Alfred was always making rounds some where around the door when he just happened to go by it. Alyson and him had kept busy with working on her car in the mean time. They were almost done with the brakes, but had yet to find out why it wasn't starting. She was still in her pajamas that the afternoon. She was beyond excited about later on tonight.

Bruce had made plans for them both to go out for dinner a few weeks ago, just him and her, no one else was allowed to go. She had really missed spending some time alone with her dad. More than anyone could even imagine. It's been far too long since they had a real meal where it was just them, where they could catch up. She had her ear phones in her ears, her walk man in her hands. She was bouncing around, dancing to the beat of her music.

Her eyes were closed shut, her voice humming to the lyrics of the song that was playing in her ears. Dick was coming up from the stairs, having had just finished his late lunch. He stopped at the top of the stairs, trying his hardest to not laugh at the sight in front of him. She was heading right for him, twirling around as she danced away. She was in a pair of baby blue flannel pajama pants that hung loosely on her hips, the pant legs going right past her matching blue fuzzy slippers. She was wearing a white tank top that fit her perfectly, raising up every time that she twisted around.

She was going to kill herself if she gets too close to the stairs. She had her eyes closed and wasn't paying attention to her surroundings at all. It was too late to speak up though. He would startle her, and she would just trip and fall down the stairs anyways. So he did what any good guy would do, and just waited for her to fall all on her own. She let out a scream when she suddenly felt nothing underneath her feet. How could she forget about the stupid stairs? She prepared herself for impact, but found that she didn't need to. Someone had caught her before she even hit the stairs. "Nice of you to drop in, princess." A familiar voice laughed out.

She slowly opened her eyes to see that Dick was holding her securely in his arms. He seemed very pleased to have her there too. "Such a lame line, Grayson." Alyson said to him as she rolled her eyes at him. He shook his head and chuckled away as he carried her up a few more steps. "You can put me down now." She told him as she struggled to be put down, but found that it was useless.

She wasn't going to be put down unless he wanted her to be though. "Nah, I think that I like you in my arms." He shot her a charming smile, making her roll her eyes again at him. She seemed to fit perfectly in his arms. She was just the right size, not to small but not too taller where he couldn't hold her.

He was about to say something more to her, but was interrupted by someone coming into the room below them. "Miss. Alyson! I heard a scream." Alfred said out to them as he came into the room. "Is everything alright?" Alfred shouted out to them as he came up to the stairs.

He was thanking the lord when he saw that Alyson was quite alright and safe with Dick. "I'm alright, Alfred. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and tripped. Mr. Grayson here, was nice enough to be there to catch me before I fell." Alyson said to the old man, her tone nice and sweet to the old man. Dick looked at her in amazement. How could she act so sassy with him, but so sweet and innocent with Alfred and Bruce?

Not that he wants the completely 'innocent little Miss Alyson'. He likes his princess just the way she is with him. "Thank you, Master Dick. Miss. Alyson, your father is on the phone for you." Alfred said to the two teens. Alyson nodded silently, giving Dick a sharp look. He rolled his eyes at her and put her back down on the floor. She muttered a quick thanks to him before she took off down the stairs and out of the room. "Have a good night, Master Dick." Alfred said out to her before left through the 'secret door' as Dick now called it.

He waited for just the perfect moment to strike, his eyes focused on the door determinedly. "Now!" He shouted as he lunged over the railing, landing on the chandalier. He jumped up and spun around one of the poles, leaping onto the tapestry. He slid down one with tassels on it. He jumped over the railing of the other stair case and swung around the light stand, sliding right through the doorway. What he didn't expect, was to go right through the book case. He went crashing down the stone steps.

He groaned out in pain as he lifted his head once he landed. An alarm was going off as he looked around curiously. This sure didn't look like 'just a study room' to him. Not at all. Hy-tech computers were turning on. The batmoblie appeared from somewhere below. He looked to his left and saw a vault full of batman costumes. He heard a throat clear and saw that Alfred looking at him with a stern look. He gave the old man a weak wave.

Mean while upstairs, Alyson was unknowing to what had just happened to her new friend. She was still in the den on the phone with her dad. "Yeah, I'm sure daddy. It's fine. We can go some other time." Alyson's tone was dead, the happiness that had been in her eyes was now gone. "Night, daddy. See you in the morning." She said to him. She hung up the phone before he could say anything else.

Her heart felt like it had exploded to millions of pieces. Her dad had canceled their dinner plans because he had to go see that doctor Chase girl. She would suck it up and deal with it though. She had to. Chase was making her dad happy, and she would suck it up and not act like some little kid just because he can't make it to one dinner.

She hurried out of the room was off to her own room, collapsing onto her bed. She took a few deep breathes as she tried to hold back her tears. She buried her head into her pillow, silent tears running down her cheeks. She could hear a familiar engine rumble somewhere close by and slowly got up, making her way over to the window. She glanced back at the door way. No one would even notice if she left. Her dad would be gone for the whole night, and she doubted that she'd be seeing Dick or Alfred for the rest of the night.

She hurried to her dresser and pulled out the sweatshirt that Dick had let her borrow a few nights ago in the garage and slipped it on over her tank top. She stripped off her pajama pants and put on a pair of jeans. She waited to put on her boots until she got outside. She opened the window and carefully climbed out. She climbed down the vine covered wall, landing on the ground smoothly. She raced off toward the garage and took one of the bikes that she knew worked perfectly well. She was gone from Wayne Manner in no time.


	9. AllieKat Rescue

Thanks for the reviews! I went and changed that word, thanks for pointing it out to me! :) Don't worry, there will be a kiss by the end of this story! lol I do not own anything in this story, besides Alyson, everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 9!

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Bruce was with Chase at the moment. Alyson had known this, though, even if he didn't say it when he had been on the phone with her, and he knew that she hadn't heard her in the background. Somethings you just know. "There's an aspect of your parent's death that you haven't faced. You were so young when it happened." Chase said out to him as she came back with a cup of tea for him.

He looked down at her desk as he set the cup down, and saw her, very full, case file on the Batman. "Well, then I'll leave you two alone." Bruce said to her. He felt really terrible about canceling on his daughter. She sounded so hurt on the phone, not to mention that she had hung up on him before he could even say good night. "This takes a whole new look on taking your work home with you, doesn't it doctor?" He asked her as he quickly skimmed through the file.

She seemed embarrassed to have been caught by him. The Batman was her obsession, she couldn't help it. She couldn't seem to get him out of her head. She had her reasons, though, didn't she? "Alright. I think he's fascinating. Clinically. Why does a man do this? It's as if he's cursed by some great pain. Now what kind of crime could he have committed to deserve a life that kind of torture?" Chase explained her curiosity for the Batman to him, but he knew better then to believe her.

It wasn't that hard to figure out, especially since he was the Batman after all. She was attracted to Batman on a physical level, as well as on a professional level. He wasn't stupid, he knew that much. "It's more than just professional interest, isn't it Chase?" Bruce said her as he took a step closer to her, his eyes locked with hers.

She couldn't help but notice his tone. It wasn't one that she had expected to hear from him. Though, somewhere deep down, she had wanted to hear it as well. She didn't know why, she just did. It was as simple as that. It wasn't like she had feelings for him, was it? "Bruce, are you jealous?" She asked him, no sound of joking in her voice.

He was caught off guard by that question. There was no why he could be jealous of himself, could he? _That_ was just insane. Could a man even be jealous of himself? "No . . . it . . . I can't be jealous of Batman." Bruce said to her, his eyes drifting down to her lips. There was hardly any more room between them.

Chase knew that he was keeping something from her though, and she wanted to know what it was. "I want to be close, but you won't let me near." Chase said to him, her eyes on him the whole time. She glanced at his lips, leaning in a little, but stopped herself. She needed to know what he was keeping her from knowing. "What are you protecting me from?" She asked him seriously.

She couldn't know who he really was though. She just couldn't. It wasn't just her that he was protecting though. There was someone else that would be crushed if Chase knew his secret before she did. Alyson. "You want to know me?" Bruce asks her. "You want to know who I am?" He paused once again. "I guess, we're all two people. One daylight, and one in the shadow." Bruce told her.

He didn't have to tell her. He could just give her hints. There was no harm in that, was there? The space between them was becoming smaller and smaller by the second. "Rage. Violent. Passion." Chase whispered out before her lips connect with his own, shocks shooting all through out her body the second that their lips connected.

Their kiss is cut short by Bruce's watch going off. " 'cuse me." Bruce said to her before taking a few steps bac and answering his wrist communicater. "I'm kind of busy." He told Alfred.

_'I'm sorry to bother you, sir. I have some rather distressing news.' _Alfred said to Bruce on the other side of the line of the communicater.

"Alyson?" Bruce asked him.

Alfred shook his head 'no' though, which caused Bruce to sigh in relief. _'It's Master Dick, sir. I'm afriad that Master Dick has, um, gone traveling.' _Alfred tried to be as vague as possible with him. He knew that the blond doctor was in hearing distance of them. Chase was still in shock from still feeling Bruce's kiss on her lips. She wasn't really paying attention to what Bruce was talking about at the moment.

"Run away?"

_'actually, he took the car.' _Alfred said to him, hoping that Bruce caught on soon to what he was trying to tell him.

"He boosted the jag?" Bruce asked him, completely clueless on what car Alfred really meant.

_'Not the jaguar. The _other _car.' _Alfred stressed on the word _'other'._

"Bently?"

_'No sir. The other car'_ Alfred said to him through clenched teeth. Realization dawned on Bruce then. Dick had found the batmoblie, meaning that he had found the Bat Cave too. What if he told Alyson? What if she was with him? She would hate him for sure if she didn't find out from him.

******  
>Alyson hugged herself closely as she walked down the sidewalk, shivering as she held the sweatshirt tightly to her body. The bike had run out of gas, and it wasn't like she could just go to a gas station. She didn't even know what kind of gas the stupid bike took. So she left the bike a couple blocks back, and now she was walking alone. She didn't know where she was, and she didn't even know how close she was to her home.<p>

She had a really bad feeling about this part of town that she was in though. "Hey baby! Come on, and hang with us for a while!" A man with skeleton glow in the dark face paint on. She saw that he wasn't alone though. He had some buddies with him too. She quickened her pace, but stopped short when another two guys popped out in front of her. "Come on, sweetie. We won't bite." One of the two said to her, blocking her way. Alyson didn't know what to say to them.

She just tried going around the guy, but it was no use. If she had an opening around one of the two, the other blocked her. "Much." The other added in, sending the guys around them into laughter. She cringed, and pushed her way out from in between them. Only, she bumped into another guy. When she tried walking around him, she only was welcomed with more guys surrounding her.

They were all touching her hair, and grabbing at her clothes. "Please stop." She mumbled out, just wanting to do nothing but run away right now. She didn't get the chance to though because an arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her tightly to him. She looked frighteningly back and forth between the guys to her right and the one holding her on her left.

The batmobile came around the corner, slowing down next to a small group of hookers. "Lets go for a ride in my love machine, baby!" He laughed out to the girls as he came to a stop. Alyson, not knowing that it was him, had hope that she'd be saved before anything happens to her.

Before she has a chance to let out a scream, a hand covered her mouth. "Children, it's Batman." The leader said out in a hushed voice as he makes sure that she couldn't scream out for help. She felt her heart beat speed up, her hands pulling at the man's grip around her waist. She wanted to be let go. She wanted to scream for help and just run and never stop.

The top to the bat mobile slid down, revealing that it was only Dick inside of the car, not who anyone had expected. The girls, if you could called them, were not happy to find him inside of the car instead of Batman. "Wait a minute. That's not batman." One of the girls said out, clearly disappointed.

That seemed hurt his mood, and his ego. "What are ya talking about?" Dick said out as he looked to the girl on his left.

This was so no not working out like the way that he had hoped it would. "That's bat boy." Another girl said out, sending the girls into a round of laughter. On the other side of the street, the group of guys all busted out laughing as well.

Alyson's eyes widened, knowing this would be her only chance to fight back. "He ain't the bat." The leader said out to his gang, not paying any attention to the blond girl in his arms at all. She struggled out of his grip. She pulled his hand off of her, and made a run for it. She let out a scream, hoping to god that someone would help her. She knew that they were on her heels, but just she kept on running.

Dick jumped at the sound of a familiar scream. He looked around and saw a girl running away from a mob of men. He could just barely see a Robin design on the back of her sweatshirt. He froze completely. It was Alyson. He knew that it was her, even if he couldn't see her face. He jumped into motion upon figuring that out. He reeved up the engine and was off without a moment's notice. Alyson ran down an alley, the goons just about on her heels. She could just barely hear the sound of the batmobile behind her too. She skidded to a stop. It was a dead end.

Before she even had a chance to do anything, she was grabbed from behind. Dick jumped out of the car and raced down the alley as fast as he could. He needed to get to Alyson before something bad happened to her. "Hey!" He yelled out as he slowed to a stop as he came to the end of the ally way. The men were grabbing at her, completely ignoring her pleas to be let go of. "Hey! Let her go!" He yelled out again as he stopped in front of the group.

The entire gang turned to look at him. Alyson could just barely see over them. Her heart felt like it had jumped for joy when she had seen who was her savior. It was Dick, and he was going to save her. She hoped so at least. It wasn't like the numbers were exactly in his favor. "Who the hell are you?" The leader asked him. She kept her eyes on him the whole time.

She knew that he wouldn't give up, with out a fight at least. He was out numbered by a long shot though, so his chances of winning were really slim. "I'm batman." He said out to them, even though everyone, including himself and Alyson, knew that he was completely full of it. The group just busted out laughing again. "Hey, so I forgot my suit, alright?" He said out to them, trying to convince them. He knew that it was no use though.

The leader just clapped his hands together and then the fight was on. He surprisingly found them not that hard to fight. He as picking them off like flies it seemed. Once he knocked out the group, he then stalked up to the leader and the guy holding onto Alyson. The leader was huffing and puffing with anger, but he was ready for the fight between them. The leader tried kicking him, but he blocked both kicks. Dick landed a punch to the face, not giving him enough time to recuperate before he landed a nice hard kick to the face on the leader, sending him back a few feet onto the ground.

The guy that been holding onto Alyson, left her behind to go help his leader. "Come on." Dick said out to her as he pulled her down to his side. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked her angrily, just wanting nothing but to take off with her and run. He didn't mean to sound so angry with her, but they both weren't out of the clear just yet.

He still had to get her back home where she was safe. Alyson was still out of breath though. She wasn't in any shape to make a break for it and not fall flat on her face, especially knowing that she was already clumsy enough where she was ready for a long run. That, in the end, would only slow them both down. Which, they couldn't afford to do right now. "I could ask you the same thing." She tried to laugh, but now wasn't exactly the time.

Dick needed to get her out of here, but he couldn't let her just run off on her own, now could he?. She probably didn't even know where to run to. He could have her wait in the batmobile, but he hadn't thought of that until later on, and now it was too late. "I got to get you out of here." Dick said out to her as he tried to pulled her away.

Alyson looked back just in time to see that Dick was about to be attacked from behind. "Look out!" She screamed out as she pushed him a side. Before she knew what had happened, a fist collided with her face, knocking her straight down to the ground. She hit her head off of the pavement, knocking herself out cold. Dick hurried to her side, and covered her from the group as much as he could.

He looked up and saw that the leader was back on his feet, and was now fine and ready for a fight. He whistled loudly, and seconds later, more of his goons had all suddenly appeared from everywhere. "Oh crap." Dick muttered out. The guys were coming at him from all ends. They were both screwed, there was no doubt about it now. He moved Alyson out of the way, and fought as many as he could before they eventually over powered him. He looked down at Alyson to see that none of them were paying any attention to her yet. Good, he needed to keep it that way.

Before he knew it, all of the goons were running away. He looked up, and saw Batman jump down from the rooftop. A sudden anger filled up inside of him. Batman, no Bruce, was the reason that Two-Face had shot down his parents and his brother. It was all his fault! He walked right up to Batman, and then began hitting him square in the chest. "Bastard! It should have been you! It's your fault! You should have told Two-Face at the circus, they'd still be alive!" Dick got in one more punch before Batman grabbed his wrist, making him stop hitting him.

As bad as he felt, he couldn't get into this with him right now. This was not the place, but he could at least give him the moment of rage that he needed to let out. "If Bruce Wayne could have given his life for your family, he would have." Batman told him honestly. Dick took deep breaths, trying to calm back down. Batman looked around and saw a familiar head of blond hair and his heart dropped out of his chest.

He dropped Dick's wrist, and hurried to her side. He knelt down and quickly checked for a pulse. "She's alright, or well, she will be. She took a pretty hard hit trying to protect me. Lucky for you, she won't get to see the bat cave and find out what a liar you are." Dick said to him bitterly as he pushed past Batman and carefully picked her up into his arms. "Come on, Allie kat. You're safe now." He whispered out to her as he carried her back to the batmobile. Batman sighed, and followed behind them.

Once they got back to the bat cave, Bruce carried his daughter up to her room and tucked her away into her bed. He moved her bangs out of her eyes, the feeling of something tugging on his heart happened when he saw a dark bruise forming on her cheek. He sighed, and left the room silently. He still had Dick to deal with back down in the bat cave. When he got back down to the Bat Cave, he found the teenager looking at all of the bat suits. He turned around when he heard Bruce come back down the stairs. "She still out?" Dick asked him, worry laced in with his voice. Bruce nodded his head silently to him. "I need to be part of this." Dick blurted out after a minute of silence.

He knew that this was what he needed to be doing. Tonight proved it. With a little practice and some training, he could help Bruce out with the hero stuff. Bruce seemed to have a different opinion though. He knew that the hero stuff wasn't the only reason that the teen had wanted in on this. As much as he respected the boy, he wasn't about to let this become his life as well. There was no way that, that was going to happen. "Absolutely not." Bruce said to him without a second thought about it.

This wasn't the life that he wanted for anyone else. He didn't see it how Dick though, or at least to him, he didn't. "Me and my brother Chris were putting money aside so our folks could retire. Dad's knee was going. Chris was engaged, you know that? Two-Face took . . . everything. Now I can pay him back." Dick told him, trying to make him understand where it was that he was coming from.

If only he knew that Bruce knew exactly where he was coming from. He had gone through this himself, expect, he hadn't had someone to that knew where he was there to help him through it. "What I do isn't about revenge." Bruce told him, trying to stay calm while telling him this. All he could think about were his parent's death and the sight of seeing Alyson knocked out on the cold ground tonight.

Dick glanced over at a framed headline. 'The Wayne Murders.' it read. "Right, slick. What ever you say." Dick said to him after he seeing the headline.

Bruce suddenly grabbed the collar of his jacket. "This isn't a game." Bruce growled out at him. Dick pushed him off of him.

"Back off, man."

Dick didn't seem to get it though. "You don't understand. It's an addiction. You fight night after night, trying to fill the emptiness. But the pain's back in the morning. And some where along the way it stops being a choice." Bruce said to him, his mind suddenly remembering the first night that he let down his daughter. She had only been a little girl at the time. He had promised to take her some where special for her birthday, but Gotham had needed Batman that night. He had, had to cancel her birthday dinner for the first time, but certainly not for the last time. "I want better for you. For her." Bruce said to him sadly, but Dick didn't want to listen to him.

He didn't seem to get the importance of what he would be giving up. All he could see was the revenge. "Save the sermons about how great you want my life, or Allie's to be, okay Bruce? You didn't have to see how hurt she was every single time that you missed dinner! If it weren't for Batman, she would have her father, and I would have my parents and my brother. You don't get it, do you? This is all your fault." Dick yelled out at him, storming out right after. Bruce stared after him with tired eyes. He was right, it was all his fault.


	10. Partnership In The Making

Thanks for all of the reviews! Glad you are all liking Dick and Allie! I do not own anything in this fiction, besides Alyson of course, everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 10~

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At the marble entrance, the red carpet was rolled out for a pull-out-the-stops kind of party. Over the door, a banner proclaimed _'Nygmatech - Imagine the Future."_ At the curb, people dressed in over the top runway fashions, pouring out from all kinds of luxury cars, handing off keys to a battalion of scurrying valets. Bruce Wayne's car rolled up, driven by none other by Alfred. A valet helped Chase out of the car. She looked stunning as always in a designer dress.

Next out of the car was Bruce, with Dick following out with him. How they managed to fit two the men and a woman inside of the back seat of a small car was beyond anyone's thoughts. Dick opened up the passenger door to the car, and helped Alyson out. Her blond hair cascaded down her shoulders in perfect curls, her bangs coming to the tips of her eyes like always. She wore a stunning light blue strapless knee length dress. She linked her arm though his own, and the two waited for her father and Chase. "Too much wealth. Too fast. Half of Gotham zombied-out. A technology that self destructs. He's protecting more than industrial secrets, Alfred." Bruce whispered to Alfred.

He couldn't have agreed more with his master. "I shall be near at hand. Should you need me. And sir, I know it's difficult, but try and have a good time." Alfred said to Bruce before he took Chase's hand and lead the group inside. He glanced back and saw that his daughter was whispering something to young man beside her, laughing when he whispered something back to her. He didn't know what to think of those two just yet. Yes, at first he had wanted them to be friends, but any one with a brain could see that they were very much attracted to the other more than just friends are usually attracted to each other. That was what worried him. He didn't want either of them getting hurt if things went south.

Over the top golden glitz, it had a kind of Versailles meets punk meets couture look to it. And in the middle off all of it was Edward, dressed as Louis XIV. The room was packed with people sipping exotic cocktails, munching hors d-oeuvres. Conversations buzzed in high. Into this zoo walked Bruce with Chase on his arm, and Dick with Alyson on his. As the brightly-lighted stations shined throughout the room, showy displays announced "_THE NEW BOX_".

Pretty, barely-clad showgirls invited party goers to step into various green columns of light. Bruce scanned the room as he and Chase paused by the first display, where a Socialite stepped into a column of energy. She gasped out with delight as she found herself suddenly dazzling in diamonds from head to toe. They passed the next column where a chubby professor, sword in hand, fought off a knight on horseback.

They pass by the next display where a bald guy stepped into a beam. Suddenly, he is in a classic stoner's pad circa 1967. And, best of all, he has long flowing hair. Chase looks amused at this, while Bruce just looks suspicious. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were sulking." Chase whispered to Bruce.

He didn't want to be analyzed though, at least not tonight. Especially not by her as well. "Keep me off the couch, Doc. Your fees are a little rich for me." Bruce tried to joke with her, but Chase wasn't buying it. He looked around and by some miracle spotted Alyson and Dick talking to some of the press.

"Touchy. Touchy."

"So how goes your 'scholarly' pursuit of Batman?" Bruce changed the subject.

He really couldn't believe how he was acting when it came to that. "Oh god, Bruce. You're still jealous." Chase laughed to him.

She could not believe that he was still jealous of her interest in Batman. Honestly, he couldn't either. It was just a first for him where the girl liked the Bat and not him. Not even Selena had liked the monster part of him more than himself. "Spare me the diagnosis, okay? You're being ridiculous. I can't be jealous of batman." Bruce said to her, almost so sure of himself. Chase rolled her eyes at him and continues to look around. "Can I?" Bruce asked himself out loud.

Across the room, Edward stood flanked by Gotham's Society Matrons as press, including Vondelle Millions, snapping photos and hurling questions at him. She had just come from asking Alyson Wayne who the handsome arm candy was that was on her arm tonight. She thought that it was an interesting story, "Circus boy scores a date with billionaire Bruce Wayne's daughter', but she was far more interested in Edward Nygma. "You're outselling Wayne Enterprises. Any comments?" A newscaster asks Edward.

He was more than pleased to answer the press questions that they were all asking him. Especially, when they all concerned how he was out doing Bruce Wayne, his once upon a time employer. "Actually, I'm out selling Wayne Tech two to one . . ." Edward corrected the newscaster.

A journalist stepped up to ask him the next question. "The 'Times' has named you Gotham's bachelor of the year. What do you have to say about that?" The journalist asked him. This question seemed to amuse him even more than the last one, if that was even possible.

Alyson and Dick weren't far away from the crowd, and could hear everything from where they were standing. "You might want to ask Bruce Wayne." Edward started to say to them. He was about to call out to Bruce, when he was interrupted by Alyson cutting in on the interview. "Ah, Miss. Wayne. So glad that you could come. The press were just wondering what it feels like for your father to be out sold, out classed, and generally out done in every way." Edward said to her, clearly slamming her father in front of her.

She just smiled sweetly back at him, though, only Dick knowing that it was as fake as smiles could be. "Actually, if you're asking me? I think that it's great that you're bachelor of the year. My dad seems to be very serious about Doctor Meridian, and he's been home more often than he use to be. I can see that he's happy away from all of the spot light for once, though, I doubt it'll be for long." Alyson said out with a laugh to Edward and to the press. Edward's smile faulted, but never fell for more than a second.

Dick had to give her some major credit. She was a pro when it came to talking to the press. "We'll see, Miss. Wayne. We'll see." Edward chuckled to her, but Dick could tell that he was pretty much threatening her. The younger man took a step closer to her, wrapping his arm around her protectively. She looked up at him in confusion. The press mistook his protectiveness as jealousy, and Edward jumped, more like lunged, at the chance to make the boy squirm even more. "Miss. Wayne, it looks like I've upset your date." Edward chuckled to her, knowing that the press were hanging off of his every word.

Alyson just giggled away, not showing that she was getting upset herself, and that Dick wasn't helping their cause at all. "Not at all. I promised him a dance before we arrived is all. He's just antsy to get dancing before the night's over." Alyson laughed out, giving her friend a pinch in the side without anyone noticing.

He had hid his flinch very well as he let her go. He didn't want to though. This guy just rubbed him the wrong way. Something was wrong about him. "Do you think your date would mind waiting a while longer? I would just love a dance with you, Miss Wayne." Edward asked her as he extended his hand toward her. Alyson knew it would only hurt her dad in the end game if she refused to dance with him.

She glanced up at Dick, making a silent pack for him to come get her out of this if she needed any help. He gave her a small nod, and she turned back to Edward, a smile on her lips as she took his outstretched hand. With that, Edward drew her out onto the dance floor. Dick wandered off before any of the press could question him more about his feelings toward what had just accorded. Unlike Alyson, he couldn't handle the press as well as she could.

Across the room, Bruce looked up to see Edward distracted with dancing with his daughter. As much as that bothered him, he didn't have time to worry about it right now. The new inventor was distracted for the moment. He walked over to one of the displays. He examined the control station for a green beam. He tried to pry it open the circuit panel. "Naughty, naughty." The girl that had been by Edward's side, said to him as she slapped Bruce's hand playfully. The millionaire smiled an apology, and looked around. There was no other choice. He stepped inside of the beam.

Edward twirled little Alyson around, watching as Bruce entered the beam. He smiled to himself. Bruce stepped in front of the machine. Before he knew what was happening, colorful planets soared all around him. Suddenly the beam flashed. There, racing toward him, was a giant bat. Back on the dance floor, all beams winked out as gun fire burst across the room.

Two-Face and his thugs stood at every entrance. Bruce backed up, slipping toward a service door. "Alright, folks, this is an old-fashioned, low-tech stick up. We're interested in the basics, jewelry, cash, watches, high-end cellular phones. Hand 'em over nice and easy, and no one gets hurt." Two-Face announced to the crowd before him.

His thugs charged into the room. The crowd began screaming at the sight of them all with their guns. Bruce hand-slided down the fire escape, hitting the alley running. He ducked into the Rolls. "Emergency, Alfred." He said out to the old man as a secret panel in the back seat opened up. A bat suit laid inside waiting for him.

Back inside, the thugs circulate quickly, yanking jewels from ears and necks, grabbing wallets and purses, filling their sacks up. Edward just pushed his way through out the crowd. Dick pushed his way in front of the band. His jaw set tight as his sights set on Two-Face. His eyes drift to the crowd, and landed on a frightened Alyson. She hadn't a clue as to what was going on, and what was even worse, was that she was alone and didn't know where he, Chase, and her dad were.

As much as he wanted to go down there and be there for her, but he knew that he'd be more good stopping Two-Face. He moved back stage and took off through the back door. Edward finally got through to Two-Face's ring of personal guards, and marched right up to the two faced villain's face. "You're ruining my big party. Are you insane?" He then considered his question, and to who he was asking it to. "Actually considering your dual persona, let's just forget the question." Edwards said out to him as he whispered to Two-Face.

Neither of the two had wanted anyone to know that they were on the same side in all of this. That would just ruin everything they were working for. "We're sick of waiting for you to deliver the bat, Riddle boy. You promised us Batman." Two-Face hiss back at him.

"Patience, oh bifurcated one." Edward said as they walked down the steps.

He didn't seem to see it that what though. "Screw patience. We want him dead." He growled out as he looked around the room. "And nothing brings out the bat like a little mayham and murder." Two-Face pointed out to the man next to him.

Anger forgotten, he was now excited by the current events occurring. "Oh well, in that case. As long as you were going to rob me, you could have at least let me in on the caper. We could have organized this, planned it, pre-sold the movie rights." He said to him, completely serious on the matter. In the crowd, Chase had some how found Alyson and the two were getting pushed around by the panicking crowd. Their heads shot up at the sound of break glass. Chase covered the young girl's head in case any of the glass happened to hit them.

Batman flew in through a window, kicking a row of thugs down before he let go of his rope and landed on the floor. "Harv, babe, I gotta be honest. Your entrance was good. His was better. What's the difference? Showmanship." Edward said out, but was ignored as Two-Face shoved him away, looking for a clean shot.

He fired a couple of times, only ending up destroying an ice sculpture and some liquor bottles though. The crowd screamed out more. They were all panicking, and trying to find a way out. Chase and Alyson were separated by all of the pushing and shoving from the other party guest. One of Two-Face's thugs charged at Batman. He heaved him overhead, throwing him, crashing, into a display of stacked Boxes.

In the mob of people, Alyson was jumping around, searching for Chase, Dick, or her dad. None of them were to be found though. Dick had ran out the back door to see that Alfred was waiting at the door for him. "Alfred, emergency." He said to the old man as Alfred passed him his old Grayson costume. He thanked the old man quickly, and hopped into the car to change. He needed to get back inside before he missed everything, or someone else he cared about got hurt.

On the other end of the room inside, another thug had Chase up against a wall, their hand around her pearls. "Excuse me." A voice said out from behind the thug. Chase's heart skipped a beat when she saw that it was Batman. She had to stay focused though. She needed to find Alyson ,and make sure that she was okay. If anything happened to that little girl, she would never forgive herself, and neither would Bruce.

Batman turned the thug around, and head-butted him. The guy went down quickly upon impact. Chase just needed to do one thing before she missed her chance though. She leaned up, and kissed him, hard and hot on the mouth. The chemistry between them was just undeniable. Sparks shot through her body just like they had when Bruce had kissed her. They soon separated, the fight with Two-Face wasn't over yet. "My place. Midnight." She whispered out to him before he left to go after Two-Face. He got to the stairs right as the elevator was closing. Two-Face and his group of thugs were inside of it.

Batman turned and raced onto the balcony and jumped over the railing. Harvey and his thugs disappeared past the Under Construction signs, down the stairs of an as yet completed subway station. Gripping the edges of his cape, Batman glided sixty floors down the skyscraper toward the street. The bat plummeted into the construction sight. What took him by surprise, was that he didn't land on the ground, he was sliding down a chute instead. He tumbled out of it, crashing into a wall. He could hear Two-Face's laughter close by.

The villain, himself, stood before him, staring into the dark with his thugs. He grabbed an aging valve wheel set into the crumbling wall. "Nothing worse than a bad case of gas." He laughed out as he began to turn the creaking whee. A long forgotten pipe by Batman began to hiss a thick purple gas. Two-Face swung a grenade launcher before him, taking a step back as he aimed into the tunnel. "Lights. Camera. Action!" He shouted out as his thugs scramble for cover seconds before Two-Face fired.

The grenade flew into the tunnel, slamming into the gas main causing a huge explosion. Suddenly, a tremendous second-art explosion went off. Debris fell every where as the gas ignited, the mouth of the tunnel suddenly brightening into a flaming white fireball. A huge fireball rushed toward Batman. He wrapped himself in his cape quickly. He reached to his utility belt and pressed a stud on it.

His cape began to run and flow like water morphing into a protective sphere just as a tremendous fireball roared as it raced down the tunnel, completely engulfing him in a world of flame. Two-Face stood staring into the inferno. Billowing smoke, residual flame and falling debris every where. No Batman in sight. A moment of dead silence occurs. "Finally." Two-Face spoke too soon, his smirk vanishing.

He was finally rid of the old bat. It was too good to be true, which it always was. "It can't be." A thug said out behind him. A shape raised up, almost bat-like, out of the flames. The figure moved forward. As his cape parts over his face, his lifted his arms, the cape splitting down the center, reverting to it's original form, arms going wide to it's familiar wings. The bat headed toward Two-Face and his men slowly. The villain was consumed with rage. He grabbed a section of the wall's support scaffolding and began to wrench it free with a crazed fury. "Why won't you just die?" He yelled out to the bat.

In a final rage of maniacal fury, Harvey wrenched the scaffolding free. It's ancient supports were gone. The ceiling began to crack and fall, debris pouring in at an ever more furious pace. Batman was suddenly doused in a rain of rocks and sand. The tunnel between Harvey and Batman were obstructed by tons of falling metal and plaster and sand. Two-Face stood as the ceiling fell all around him. Batman was driven down by a storm of wreckage. Two-Face could barely contain his joy.

Plaster and rubble fell even more furiously. Batman stumbled as the ground beneath him suddenly gave out, sucking him into a quickly filling pit of sand and tile. He reached for his utility belt but it's too late. Batman was nearly buried, sand coming up over his mouth, his eyes, until finally he is gone. Two-Face stood watching, his eyes full of childish delight. The floor in front of him began to give way, running along with deep cracks. "Boys, let's go have us a party." He said out to his goons as he turned to face them. "Anybody else feel like donuts?" Harvey said as he and his men head way, up and out of the tunnels.

The sand pit was completely still, no sign of movement at all. A gloved hand suddenly broke the surface, clutching a bat-a-rang. Batman gave it a weak flip of the wrist, but the bat-a-rang hit the sand with a soft thud. The hand went limp, as if lost. Out of nowhere, a green gloved hand grabs onto Batman's hand. Dick hangs on a wire above him in an aerialist's maneuver. He secured his grip on the rope and pulled on his grip. Suddenly, Batman's face broke free of the sand. Dick used the leverage of his body on the rope to pull harder. Batman began to rise free. The two face each other, their hands still clasped together.


	11. It's A Hard Knock Life

Thanks for the reviews! I do not own anything in this fiction, besides Alyson of course, everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 11!

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Once the guys had changed back into their suits, they had found the two girls and headed on home for the night. Alfred had dropped Chase back off at her own place first. When they got back to the Manor, Bruce had told his daughter to go rest in her room for the night. She nodded her head without a word of protest, and left for her room with a quick wave to the two men. He motioned for Dick to follow him, and the two men went down to the Bat Cave with Alfred following behind them. Bruce sat down in his chair, now in his red robe after being bandaged up by his old butler. Dick was pacing around in front of him. "What the hell did you think you were doing?" Bruce said angrily out to young man before him.

He would have liked to think that Dick was inside of the party protecting his daughter from those thugs, not playing dress up and trying to be some sort of hero. "You have a real gratitude problem. You know that, Bruce?" He said bitterly out to him. "I need a name. Batboy? The Dark Earl? Nightwing? What's a good side kick name?" He paused as something occurred to him. "Wait, why isn't Allie you're side kick?" He asked the older man.

He was going a mile a minute with the questions, the excitement was getting to his head. Bruce knew that, though, he wished had it was different. "How about Richard Grayson, college student." He told him. "And Alyson doesn't know, and I'd like it to stay that way. She's safer not knowing who I am." He explained to him, who in turn just rolled his eyes at him.

Tonight was an eye opener for him, though, in some placed he was still in the dark about them. He would like to believe that Bruce didn't know what he was going though, and he did believe just that. He was wrong though. Bruce did know, but it wasn't getting through to him that he did. Dick still couldn't believe how close he had been to almost facing Two-Face. It would of have made his night if he had. " . . . I missed Two-Face by a heartbeat. When we catch him, you gotta let me kill him!" Dick exclaimed out to the older man.

Bruce settled for sighing, just wanting Dick to understand that what he does for the people of Gotham isn't about killing anyone. Not at all. "We don't kill. Killing is what damns you. It . . . what am I talking about? This conversation is over. You're going away to school. I'll send Alyson away with you if I have to. She, and you, will be both be safer." Bruce said out to him firmly.

He knew that the younger man wasn't going to go willingly to any school, and neither would Alyson now that he thought about it. "I saved you life, and Alyson's too, if I remember right. You owe me big time." He told him. "So either you let me be your partner, or I'm going after Harvey on my own." Dick shouted out angrily before he turned and stormed out of the bat cave.

All Bruce could do was stare after the boy's retreating form sadly. This couldn't be happening. Not again. "It's starting all over again, Alfred. Another boy lost to rage. And, it's my fault. If Harvey hadn't come gunning for me at the circus . . . his family . . ." Bruce trailed off, his thoughts shifting to the other teen in the house. "I was so terrified that Alyson would take her anger out on her mother when she saw her. All those years, she must have felt abandoned by Selena, and then to find out that she was doing fine in the world. I thought that would have killed her." Bruce said out as he glanced at the Gotham Times, the headline reading 'Bat more harm than good?'

He didn't want his daughter to be surrounded by all of that. He didn't want her in his world where black and white, good and bad, weren't always so clear. "Miss. Alyson is becoming a fine woman, Master Bruce. You've raised her the best you could, and she loves you so much." Alfred tried to comfort his friend, but found it harder said than done.

"Maybe they're right."

Bruce couldn't help but think that if Alyson had, had her mother growing up, if her life could have been better. Would she be going to public school, and have tons of friends by her side? Would she be popular? Would she be a book worm like she was now, and loved because of who she is, and not because of who he was? Would she have boyfriends? He shivered at that thought of his daughter with any boy. "Which 'they' might that be, sir?" Alfred asked the man before him.

That seemed to be the question, wasn't it? "Jack Napier's dead. My parents are avenged. The Wayne Foundation contributes a small fortune to police and crime prevention programs." Bruce touched a cowl that was resting on the control panel. "I know that Alyson needs me to be around here more. So why do I keep doing this?" He asked out to the older man.

"Why, indeed?"

He didn't understand why he kept doing this. He clearly needed to be home with his daughter. She needed him, didn't she? That was way more important than some masked hero that he was pretending to be. "Could I let Batman go? For Alyson. For Dick. For me. Could I leave the shadows? Have a life. Friends. The family that Dick and Alyson both deserve . . ." Bruce said out as he watches a tape of Chase.

She was another person that he had to consider in all of this. She was important to him, and she was definably different from any other girl he had ever dated before. "Dr. Meridian . . ." Alfred said out as he saw what Bruce was watching.

Bruce slowly touched his lips softly with the tips of his fingers, the memory of Chase kissing Batman replaying in his head. "She's the first woman in a long time that's . . . No. She's the first woman ever. And she loves Batman. Not Bruce Wayne. If I let go of Batman, I'll lose her." Bruce said to the older man, just wishing that this choice was so much easier than it actually was.

This wasn't completely his call either. There were other people involved that might want a say on this as well. If only he'd give them the chance to do as much. Not only did both Dick and his daughter have a say, but so did the rest of Gotham and Chase Meridian. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. Why not ask the lady?" Alfred told him.

That seemed to catch him off guard. It wasn't like he could just tell her his darkest secret, a secret that he hadn't even told his own flesh and blood about yet. "How? As Batman, knowing she wants me? Or as Bruce Wayne, and hope . . ." Bruce trailed off as he reached for the phone. He hit an auto dial key and listened on as the dial tone began to ring. _'Hello? . . Hello? . . . Who is this?'_ Chase asked over the other side of the phone. Bruce didn't say a word back though. He quickly disconnected the phone and turned to Alfred. "Who am I Alfred? I don't think I know anymore." Bruce said to his old friend.

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Alyson, surprisingly, wasn't tired at all after the night that she just had. She had found herself wondering around the Manner in her pajamas. She stopped short when she heard a grunting noise up ahead. It sounded like Dick. She could hear the sound of something getting hit, then she realized that he was in the training room. She walked slowly towards the room, stopping in the door way.

Dick was punching the punching bag with all that he had in him. She could see that he was upset about something, but she didn't know if she should intrude in on it or not. "I know that you're there, Allie Kat. You might as well come in." Dick said out to her, not once looking up from the punching bag.

She nodded her head silently, and walked more into the room. "You wanna talk about it?" She asked out to him shyly. Dick's punches had only gotten faster and rougher with every hit. "I can go if you want?" She said to him as she motioned to the door way. If he wanted to be alone, she would gladly let him be.

She was just about to leave the room when he spoke out to her. "He was right there, Allie." He muttered out. "He was in the same room as me!" His voice had gotten louder. "I didn't get to do anything, though. He got away. Again." Dick blurted out, causing Alyson to freeze where she stood. She knew exactly who he was talking about.

Dick was heaving, his breathing now shallow. Alyson's heart broke just by looking at him. She didn't know what to do, or what to say to him for that matter. What could she? It wouldn't take away the pain that he was feeling. "Revenge isn't the answer, Dick." That was all she could think to say to him, but he didn't want to hear it from her wither. Bruce kept telling him the same old thing, and he was sick of hearing it.

He wanted to strangle the life out of Two-Face. He wanted the villain to feel what his family did when he shot them down that night. "You know what? Just go!" Dick yelled out at her. He didn't need to hear what she had to say, he decided. She opened her mouth to say something else to him, but he had cut her off. "GO!" He screamed out at her, causing her to flinch at his tone. She nodded her head, and made it to the door before she had stopped, and turned back around to face. "I told you to leave." Dick said to her, the coldness still in his voice.

She couldn't just leave him like this, though. "I know you did, but you know what? I'm not going anywhere. I know that's it's hard, Dick. Your family died, and the guy that killed them is still out there and going around killing more people. Killing him won't do anything, though, Dick. There will still be people going around killing other people out of cold blood. More kids will be orphans because of some thug. Heck, kids will get killed by their own drunk, stupid, parents!" She screamed at him. "That's life, though. It's cruel, and it's nasty, but it's life." Alyson snapped at him. She knew that it sucked for him, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Killing someone wouldn't bring back his family.

She had never gotten this upset before, and it surprised not only herself, but him as well. Dick just glared at her, not saying a single word to her. He didn't know what to say to her. "My mother is dead, Dick, and the last time that she saw me? She didn't even have a clue as to who I was. I knew that I should have hated her so much, but I couldn't. She had made a life for herself, one that didn't even have a chance of me being in it, but I still didn't hate her." She confessed to him. "It's not in me to hate someone like I wished that I hated her." She told him. "This isn't you, Dick. I know you." She tried to plead with him.

Alyson was cut off short by Dick pushing her into a wall, trapping her in between his arms. She couldn't know him, not after only knowing him a few weeks. What could she know anyways? She had always gotten what she ever wanted. She was daddy's litte princess. Where as, with him? He had to work for everything that he had ever been given. "You don't know a thing about me." He told her firmly. "You don't!" Dick yelled out at her, slamming his fist into the wall.

Their eyes were locked together. Their chests were rising and falling, almost touching from how close they were together. She knew what he was doing. He was trying to scare her away. It wasn't going to work though. "I'm not afraid of you, Dick." She whispered out to him. She raised up her hands to both sides of his cheeks and cupped his face, making sure that his eyes kept locked on her. "I'm _not_. You are not a monster. You're not him." She whispered out to him.

She watched him sadly as his eyes softened after a moment, the rage suddenly gone from his eyes. He had lost control just now. She was only trying to help him, and he had basically just chewed her out. She didn't deserve that. He lowered his head, letting it rest on her shoulder. "He killed them, Alyson." He cried into her shoulder, his voice muffled slightly. "He killed them. He has to pay." Dick sobbed out onto her shoulder. Alyson wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him into a hug.

He held onto her for dear life as he cried out. "Shhh, I got you." She cooed softly to him. "He'll get what he deserves, I promise." She whispered out to him as she held onto him in her arms. She didn't think any different of him because he was crying in front of her. She was proud of him. He had finally moved forward after his family's death. She knew that he still had a while to go before he would be okay, but he was finally getting there.

The two had stood there for a few minutes in silence, just listening to each others heart beats. Dick raised his head up from her shoulder, wiping the stray tears from his face. "I think you still owe me a dance." Dick said out of no where to her. She looked at him puzzled, wondering how they went from him wanting revenge on Two-Face, to her owing him a dance. "At the party, before _he_ crashed it, you told the press that you had promised me a dance. Now, don't tell me that Gotham's sweetheart lied to the press." He chuckled softly to her, making her crack a smile too as she shook her head.

She gave him a fake hurt expression. As if little innocent her would ever lie to the press about something like that. Yeah, right. That would never happen. Not in a million years. "I would never lie to the press about promising my date a dance." She laughed softly to him. There was only one problem. "There's no music, though." She pointed out to him.

He chuckled slightly at her, causing her to become even more curious as to what was going through his head by the second. "Then we make up our own music." He said quietly to her as he wrapped his arms around her waist like he would have if they were dancing. When he saw that she wasn't moving, he rolled his eyes and moved her arms around his neck.

He began to sway them both back and forth, a low humming noise coming from his throat. She looked up at him in amusement. He really knew how to change a mood on a second's notice. Not that she was complaining. She'd rather them both laughing and having fun over them fighting any day. "What are you doing, Grayson? It sounds like you're killing a cat." She laughed out to him.

She saw his lips twitch into a grin, and knew that he knew she was only joking with him. "I'm humming, creating the mood." He said quietly to her in a matter-of-fact tone. She broke out into laughter then. Her laughter echoed through out the room and into the hallway. She let her head rest on his chest as they swayed back and forth to their 'music'. "My humming is not that bad. Not like you could do better." He laughed out to her.

He looked down at her happily, a lazy grin playing on his lips. This only made her laugh even more. "I could so out hum you any day." She said to him as she raised her head to look at him. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw how he was looking down at her. Her eyes sparkled with happiness. She was happy to see actually happiness in his expression. He smiled down at her happily, glad to know that her eyes sparkled when she was looking at him. No one had ever looked at him like that before.

Alfred was on one of his hourly checks when he had heard the two laughing. He was very worried about Dick, and how he was holding up after his argument with Bruce down in the Bat Cave earlier on. When he had found that Alyson was gone from her room also, he knew that he would find the two together. He was tempted to just let them be. He knew that if anyone could be there for Master Greyson, it would be Alyson. He had stopped at the training room anyways, and he had peaked his head inside of the room.

Dick's eyes flickered down between her eyes and her lips as he cupped her face, and slowly lowered his face toward hers. He was really going to make a move. She couldn't help be feel excited, yet worried at the same time about that. Did she want to go there with him? His eyes flickered up at the last second, his eyes widening when he saw Alfred standing in the doorway. "Alfred!" He shouted out as he quickly straightened up quickly.

Alyson's eyes widened fearfully as she jumped away from him, and spun around to face the older man. "Alfred, we were, uh, we weren't . . . I . . . this isn't what it looks like at all." Alyson was bright red in the face, and she didn't know what to say to the old man. She was about to let Dick kiss her, and she knew that she would have kissed him back if he did.

Dick coughed, trying to cover his chuckling up. Alyson was too cute when she was flustered. Alfred had really bad timing, though. That was twice now that he had almost kissed her, and had been interrupted by Alfred walking in on them. "It never is, is it, Miss Alyson?" The old man said out to them, a knowing smile playing on his old lips. He knew exactly what he had almost walked in on just now.

How many times had he accidentally walked in on a young Bruce when he had young ladies over at the Manor? He had lost count after all these years. He could tell, even being in his late years, that this wasn't the same kind of situation. "I'm, uh, just going to, you know, go to bed." Alyson said to them both as she hesitantly left the room, her eyes flickering between the two men before she basically ran out of the room and back to her own.

Alfred turned back to Dick to see that he was still watching the door with a goofy look on his face. He was right. This wasn't the same as before with Bruce and his lady friends he had seen in this very room. He just hoped that this would end differently as well. "Good night, Master Dick." Alfred said to him with another knowing smile. Dick blinked and gave Alfred back a grin.

It was a good night in deed, if you asked him, even if it had started out completely awful. "A good night it was, Alfred." He said out to the older man as he grinned while he left the training room to go to his own room. Alfred chuckled softly to himself, and shook his head as he watched Dick's retreating form.


	12. Fallen BatAngels

Thanks for the reviews, this isn't my favorite chapter, but it's more of a filler. So, I was thinking that I would post two today? How does that sound? I'll post this one and then the next one later on today?

I do not own anything in this chapter, everything besides Alyson belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 12

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White gemmed heels clicked against the cement, stumbling every few feet. A mumble of curses followed out after each round of the stumbles. "I am so not getting the damn candy in my costume ever again." Alyson muttered out to herself angrily. She had insisted that Alfred stay at the Manner and prepare for tonight, and that she'd handle the candy. Oh, how she did regret saying that now.

She was coming up on the Manner now, and she swore that she would have jumped for joy if it wasn't for the fact that the heels were killing her. She went right up to the door, expecting to just walk right in. Only, it was locked. She twisted the knob a few times, but it was useless. She went to go find her key when she realized that she didn't bring her purse. She had left it in her room. She had only carried a few bucks in her top.

She groaned in annoyance, and tried knocking on the door, but there wasn't an answer. Where was everyone? She wasn't about to go walk around in her heels more than she had to. It was getting late though, and she was going to freeze if she stayed out here and waited for someone to finally realize that she was out here. She carefully climbed on top of the stone ledge to try and see if her dad left a spare key anywhere. She couldn't quite reach though, so she prayed to god hoping that she wouldn't fall as she got up on her tippy toes.

Dick had offered to give Alfred a break, and went to open the door for who ever was knocking. He owed the guy a lot. He'd not only caught him trying to kiss Alyson once, but twice now. He opened the door just in time to hear a scream. He reacted quick enough, and caught none other than Alyson, herself, in his arms. He looked up at the spot that she had fallen from, then back down to her. He did a quick look over of her, but found himself doing a double take when he saw what she was wearing.

Her dress, if you could even call it that, just barely covered anything. Her arms were basically the only things that were fully covered. Her heels were what made him want to really laugh. She's already a big klutz, and she was wearing high heels. Now that's a smart idea. Not. It wasn't that hard for him to figure out what she was dressed up as though, the halo kind of was a big give away.

"Don't you even . . ."

He had done it anyways. "My prays have been answers. God sent me an angel, and look! She's got candy." Dick laughed out to her, having not been able to resist himself. Alyson just rolled her eyes at him. This was one of the cons of wearing the costume, besides that it's obviously a slutty outfit. Dick's lame come on lines.

She had hoped that the pro's would have out done them though. Which, now that it was actually happening? They didn't. "Just put me down, Dick. I need to get this candy to Alfred then take these damn heels off." Alyson said to him as he carried her inside of the house, closing the door with his foot.

He wasn't about to let this moment end though. "No can do, Miss Allie Kat. You're gonna kill yourself with those shoes on." Dick laughed to her as he carried her up the stairs and to her room. "Now please open your door for me." He said with a bad accent. She rolled her eyes and opened her bedroom door.

She squeaked loudly when he started spinning her around the second they were inside of her room. She held onto him tightly as her hair went flying around. "Grayson, you better put me down!" She laughed out to him, a squeak leaving her lips when they crashed on top of her bed. Dick had, some how, landed on top of her, his arms pinning her down. Their chest were breathing hardly, smiles on both of their faces. Dick's eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips, her's doing the same to him. "Dick . . ." She breathed out, knowing where this was going to go.

His mind flashed back to when he had almost kissed her back in the training room that night. She had almost let him too if it wasn't for Alfred's interruption. Since then, all he's wanted to do was to go back to that moment and kiss her like he should have if the butler hadn't ruined the moment. "Shh, it's alright. Nothing to be scared of." Dick whispered to her as he leaned down.

A thought popped into her head at the last second. What did he think this was? Was it just a score for him? To pull one over on her dad? God knows that he didn't like him, regardless of the fact that he had taken him in when he didn't have to. She jumped up, pushing him away from her. "We . . . we can't. You need to leave." She said to him, her voice shaky. He just looked at her like she was kidding. "Now, Dick. Please don't make me ask again." She said to him again, not once looking up to meet his eyes.

"Allie Kat . . ."

She didn't say anything more to him. She didn't even look up to look at him. It took him a second to realize that she was very serious about him leaving her room. He slowly got up from his spot on her bed and left the room. Alyson let her head fall into her hands the second that she was sure that he was gone. What had she been thinking? She had only met him a few weeks ago. He was still grieving over his family's death. It'd be wrong of her to get involved with him right now. He'd just be using her to push the pain inside of him away for a while. Not to forget the fact that they did live together and her dad would never allow it. What has she gotten herself in to now?

On his throne, in his sphere, electronically getting more brilliant every second, Edward fills all his screens with Alyson's image from the party. Something about her, the fire she had spit at him in front of the press, made his insides twist. The way she had managed to stand her own in front of the press, all the same, making digs at himself, was amazing to him.

Rivulets of neural energy ripple and danced as his brain grew underneath his orange hair. Suddenly Two-Face gets him by the throat. "You know, Ed, we woke up this morning, we just knew we were gonna kill something. The bat got away. Looks like it's gonna be you." Two-Face says to him as he draws his gun with his free hand. He trains it on Riddler's head.

By the look in his eyes, Riddler knows that he's serious. "Why do we need you? You only come between us. We can be the smartest person in Gotham City. We want the empire for ourselves. Time's up laughing boy." Two-Face says as he clicks the safety off of the gun.

"Kill me? Well, alright. Go ahead. Take the empire. All yours." Riddler says as he grabs his own head. "Hell, Harv, old pals. I'll kill me for you." Riddler says as he grab his hair and starts to slam his own head into the desk-top. "Too . . . bad . . . about . . . Batman." Riddlers said out in between slams.

Harvey grabbed onto his head, stopping him from hitting his head again. "What about Batman?" Two-Face asked him as he let his head go.

Riddler smoothed his hair back to how it was before he started slamming his head against the desk. "What if you could know a man's mind? Would you not then own that man? Riddler asks him as he hits a switch. Suddenly his screens fill with the image of Bruce stepping into the simulation at the party. "A few dozen extra IQ points and my invention learned a new trick. It does more than drain your mind. It makes a map of your mind." He said as the screens changed, now showing a turning schematic of a brain, alive with a neural lighting.

"Would you like to see what my old friend Bruce has in his head?" Riddler hits a switch. Another image pulls free from the schematic brain. A trapped bat. Fierce. Monstrous. The very picture of imagine evil, made live. It was Bruce's nightmare. "Riddle me this, what kid of man has bats on the brain?" Riddler says as he looks up at Two-Face, whom is staring at him. "Go ahead. You can say it." Riddler says, knowing that Two-Face now knew what he did.

"You're a genius." Two-Face laughed out. Riddler joined him as the two laughed away.


	13. Don't Say Goodbye This Isn't Forever

Thanks for all of the reviews, hope this chapter is liked. I do not own anything in this fiction, everything belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 13!

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A group of kids in their early teens dressed in their Halloween costumes come running though the grave yard. Two gravestones alone on a hill under a tree is in their path. The kids pass Bruce, who was visiting his family's graves. "Happy Halloween." The kid said out as they pass by him.

They were so happy, completely unaware of the darkness in their world. "Happy Halloween." He muttered back to them as he laid two roses on top of both Thomas and Martha Wayne's graves. "Tonight it ends." He muttered out to himself. He didn't notice that their was another presence behind him.

Alyson was back at their home. She had been busy trying to resew something on her costume, and had told him to tell Grandma and grandpa that she loved and missed them. Even if she had never met them, she still felt the loss of their death. "What the hell do you mean, it ends?" Bruce turned around to see that it was Dick standing behind him. The young teen was beyond confused, not just because of Allie, but he was hoping Bruce didn't mean what he thought he meant.

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Dick and Bruce enter the Bat cave mid-conversation. "From this day on, Batman is no more." Bruce said to him as he hit a switch. The machines in the cave start to go dark.

"You can't . . ."

He just wanted to this be over. He didn't want to second guess himself about this any longer. He's been doing that for far too long. It wasn't fair for anyone. Especially the loved ones living in this very house. "Dick, let go. Revenge will eat you alive. Trust me, I know." Bruce said to him sadly.

Dick seemed to have other thoughts on the matter. "But what about all the good we can do? There are monsters out there. Gotham needs us." Dick said to him. Bruce knew that the only reason the boy in front of him was so caught up on wanting to become a hero, was so that he could kill Two-Face. If only he knew that he was wrong. Yes, he still wanted to take Two-Face down, but not to kill him.

After that fight with Alyson the other night, he just can't look at it all the same way anymore. "And when you finally get Two-Face?" Bruce asked him. Dick looked away from him, knowing that no matter how much he tried to convince himself that Alyson was right, there would still be a little part of him that wants to strangle the life out of Two-Face. "Exactly. And once you'd killed him, you'd be lost. Like me." He said to Dick as he looked around the cave. "All of this has to be a choice. Otherwise . . . it's a curse." Bruce said to him sadly, wishing that he could get through to Dick.

"Bruce, you can't."

He didn't want to talk about this. He didn't even want to talk about it in the first place. "Chase is coming for dinner. Why don't you join us?" Bruce asked him, but saw that he wasn't going to get an answer that he wanted. "Alyson turned down my offer too. She's still mad at me, I think. Maybe this will help me get to know my daughter again." With that, Bruce turned, heading up stairs into the house. Dick stood there all alone in the still, dark cave.

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Alyson opened up the doors to the trick or treaters that had seen Bruce in the grave yard earlier. She smiled at them happily, and handed out bags of candy. She gave them a little wave as they left with their candy, and back out toward the long drive way. She saw someone storming off out of the corner of her eye, and squinted her eyes to try and see who it was.

She sighed when she saw who it was. "Alfred! Can you cover the candy bowl for a while? I have to do something." Alyson called out before she hurried out to the garage and tried to catch up to Dick. She shivered the second that she was halfway down the stairs when a crisp air had hit her. She had forgotten to grab a jacket on the way out. She didn't head back to grab one, she had a bad feeling that she needed to get to Dick before it was too late.

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A mysterious van sit parked on the gravel byway. Inside the van was Two-Face, Riddler, and their men watching the manor. Riddler spotted Alyson attempting to run toward the garage of the Manor. She was home, this was perfect. "And today's not even my birthday." He chuckled to himself. Two-Face couldn't care less about the stupid blond teenager though. He tossed his coin up in the air, muttering "Bruce, Batman. Bruce, Batman." over and over again.

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Alyson got to the garage just in time to see that her friend was about to take off on his bike. "Hey! She shouted to him without even thinking twice about it. He looked up at her sadly. "Where you off to? Alfred and I usually watch scary movies once the kids stop coming." Alyson shouted out to him as she made her way toward him.

She shivered when a gust of cold air hit her, but she didn't let it bother her. "I need to get out of here. Bruce, he's . . . he's just not who I thought he was." Dick said to her as he checked to make sure that his bike was all set to go and that his costume was hidden well enough. He didn't need Alyson finding it, and asking questions that he couldn't answer.

Bruce was right about one thing. Alyson was safer not knowing everything about this choice in his life. "Look, I know that my dad can be a pain in the ass, but you can't just leave." Alyson didn't know what to think of this. The last time that she had seen him, she had kicked him out of her room. Now he was saying that he had to leave her and her dad?

Was he leaving them because she didn't want to mess everything they had going up by getting involved with him? "You don't get it, I doubt that you ever will. So, just leave it alone, Alyson. Tell Al that I'll miss him." Dick said to her as he got onto his bike and reeved up the engine. He was about to take off when she stopped him again.

He wasn't going to take the easy way out of this if she had anything to say about this though. "Tell him yourself." She said to him with coldness in her voice. He turned to look at her, hurt in his eyes. "Just make me get it then, Dick! Make me understand why all of a sudden you have to leave." She yelled at him. He sighed as he got off of his bike. He put his helmet on his handle bar and walked up to her.

He walked right up to her, hovering over her by a good foot even with her heels on. "I have to do this, Allie Kat. Just trust me." He said to her as he rubbed her arms, trying to at least warm her up a little. She looked so cold, and it was killing him to see her shiver. Alyson couldn't believe this was happening.

She felt so out of the loop, like there was some big secret that she didn't know about. She hated feeling so left out. "Please, Dick. Just let me in." She whispered to him. He shook his head, knowing that he needed to keep her safe by not letting her in this time. Was this how Bruce felt? He had to lie to Alyson about where he goes every night. Had the lies become too much after so many years of doing it? Had he finally had enough with the lying?

He couldn't think about that now, though. There were people out there that needed a hero, and if Bruce wasn't going to be that hero? Then he would have to be. He just wished that he didn't have to give up the girl in front of him because of it. He'd never be able to keep this from her, though. It would kill him from the inside out. "God, I'll miss you so much." He whispered to her, pain laced in with his voice. He caressed her cheek, wiping away a traitor tear that had fallen from her blue eyes.

She closes her eyes, wishing that this didn't have to be good bye. Dick's eyes shifted down to her lips. Her eyes slowly opened, their sights instantly locked on the other in front of them. He slowly leaned down, hesitating just before his lips touched her own to see if she would push him away again or not. But she didn't. He slowly captured her lips with his own. A shock ran through the both of them. Salty tears ran down Alyson's cheeks.

His arms wrapped around her small waist, pulling her even closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his kneck, pulling his face closer to her own, if it was even possible to do. The kiss was slow, like they both were trying to make the kiss last as long as they could. Eventually they needed to come up for air, though. As they pulled their heads apart, they rested their foreheads together. Their eyes are locked on each other the second that they opened them.

He was still holding her tightly in his hold, not wanting to let her go. Even though he knew that he would have to soon. "Please don't go." She whispered to him, breaking the silence that had fallen between them both. He sighed, and closed his eyes shut tightly. Bruce was right, on some parts. Not just about how Alyson was safer if she didn't know, but about how there was no turning back if he went after and killed Two-Face.

Alyson would never talk to him again. After kissing her, he didn't know if he could not be able to never see her again. "I have to, Alyson. I'm sorry." Dick said out to her sadly. He pulled away from their embrace, and saw that she was shivering, not from her sobbing, but from the cold. He shrugged off the sweat shirt that he was wearing and wrapped it around her shoulders.

She knew that it was the one that he had given her before, which only caused more tears to fall from her eyes. "Stay safe, and warm. Okay?" He told her. She nodded her head as she watched him put on his leather jacket and his helmet. He looked back at her once before he rode off on his motorcycle and out of the garage, leaving Alyson there alone to watch him leave. She watched on as his motorcycle got further and further away in awestuck horror. She covered her mouth as the sobs came. After a minute, she left to go up to her room and try to get some sleep.

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Alyson was on her way to the stairs, her heels in hand, when she noticed her dad and Chase by the window in the next room over. It looked like she was talking him through something. "Dad?" She asked out. Bruce and Chase looked up at her as the sound of the door bell rang. Alfred peers out to see a a group of Halloween Masks.

It wasn't just any ordinary trick or treater, though. "Trick or treat?" A little voice said out from on the other side of the door. Alfred grabbed his candy bags as he opened the door to see that it was the Riddler, Two-Face, and their thugs. "Trick." Riddler said out before he cracked Alfred off of the head with his cane. Down he went to the ground.

"Get the Wayne girl." Two-Face said out to his thugs.

In the den Alyson screamed out when she heard a thud. "What the hell?" Bruce said as some of the thugs appear in both doorways. "Alyson, upstairs. Now!" He yelled out to his daughter. She nodded quickly, and hurried up the stairs toward her father's room. Bruce moved fast as he grabbed a silver serving tray, flipping it into one of the screaming thugs' faces, and swinging the platter into the others head. Two down.

The Riddler used the scanner in the head of his cane to locate and open the secret door to the Bat cave. Upstairs, Alyson hurried inside of her dad's room and hurried to find a place to hide. She didn't know why she went to her dad's room instead of her own. She had always felt safer in his room when she was scared. It had always been a safe haven.

She wasn't a little girl who needed to hold onto her teddy bear as she snuggled up to her father after a nightmare and had him tell her a bed time story. She was stronger now. She couldn't let her dad take on all those thugs on his own. She'd be a sitting duck if she did. She knew, though, that if she needed to fight, she couldn't do anything in what she was wearing though.

Lucky for her she had always stashed a few extra outfits in Bruce's room for herself since the work out room in on his side of the Manor. She hurried to strip down and change as quickly as she could into a tank top and a pair of her capris that she used for when she works out. She didn't have a spare change of socks, so she stayed bare foot. She slipped on Dick's sweat shirt, and found a hockey stick from her dad's closet, and then she raced out of the room. She needed to help her dad for once.

Bruce grabbed onto Chase's hand, and they both were out the door, racing fast, with several more henchman close behind them. He just needed to get them away from Alyson's direction. He didn't know if he could protect both of the girls with out any of his weapons. Bruce and Chase race toward the stairway. Bruce pulled a standing display suits of armor to the floor as he went, in turn, blocking the Thugs' way.

Bruce and Chase fled up the giant staircase, the thugs only a step behind them. One two-toned bad guy leaped forward, getting a fistful of Chase's dress. She fell down onto the stairs with a thud. The thugs thought that he had gotten her. At the last moment, Chase gave him a mighty kick, and the thug toppled backwards, down the stairs he went.

Bruce was holding off a couple more, closing near the top of the stairs. He spun around, a powerful roundhouse clocking one in the head, sending him backwards down the stairs. "Go!" He shouted out, but Chase moved behind him. They turn around when they hear another scream, and saw Alyson on the opposite side of the stair case, hitting a thug in the head with a hockey stick.

She screamed out as she jabbed another in the stomach with the handle of the hockey stick, pushing them backwards down the stairs. "Look out!" Chase screamed out when she saw that Bruce was distracted. He snapped back to what he was doing, and sent another thug flying back-first. He glanced back to see that his daughter was doing fine with the hockey stick, hitting her target before they got close enough to take it from her. He and Chase raced up to the top of the stairs quickly.

Two-Face stood on the floor below. He saw that both Bruce and young Alyson were presence. Just the moment that he's been waiting for. "See ya." Two-Face said out before he shot. The bullet grazed Bruce's head. He fell down the grand staircase like dead weight. Chase and Alyson both screamed out, giving the thugs enough time to grab the hockey stick from Alyson and toss it away.

She screamed out as they grab her, picking her up from the gound. She was now helpless as they carried her away. Chase tries to hit them off, but she was pushed away. She tried to grab onto their legs, but the attempt was hopeless as they just kicked her off. "Daddy!" Alyson screamed out repreatenly as they had dragged her off.

Bruce had, in the mean time, hit the floor rather hardly. There was no movement from him, none at all. "Bruce, you sure know how to throw a party." Two-Face said out as he stood over the prostrate form. He drew out his gun, ignoring Chase's screams, and slammed in a new clip of ammo.

It wasn't his time to die though. "Sheath your weapon my impetuous cohort." Riddler said out to him as he came from another room. He had just succeeded in destroying the whole entire Batcave.

Two-Face didn't seem to have the same idea of Riddler though. "We want to dust him. We truly want to dust him bad." Two-Face said to lunatic. The two didn't worry about Chase, she was frozen in place on the stairs, her eyes locked on an unmoving Bruce Wayne.

Alyson screaming had made her flinch, she so badly wanted to help that girl but she didn't know how to. "Oh yes, and certainly we will!" Riddler said to him as he walked over to an unconscious Bruce, and kneeled down beside him. He looked at him tenderly, like a lover, caressing his face. "My poor, sweet hero." He said to him before he stood, kicking him hard in the rib cage. Chase flinched when she heard bones crack. "We'll kill him alright. But first . . . Boys." He shouted out, motioning the thugs that it was time for them to leave.

The thugs then dragged out a freshly bound Alyson, whom was screaming for Bruce to wake up. Begging him to open his eyes. "Bruce!" Chase screamed out, finally finding it in her to ran to his side. Riddler dropped another riddle on Bruce's chest. "We're going to make him suffer." Riddler said more to himself than to Chase as he walked away, ignoring Chase's pleads for Bruce to wake up.


	14. A Partnership Is Made

Thanks for all of the reviews. What did you guys think of the kiss? Was it well awaited? I'm currently trying to figure out how to start the next movie. Should I put a story line in the middle, should I cross over wth Bird's of Prey, or should I just go to the next movie? What do you guys think? I could really use to the help!

I do not own anything in this story, besides Alyson, everything else belongs to their rightful owners. Enjoy!

Chapter 14!

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Bruce's eyes slowly opened, his vision being blurry at first. His head was really killing him at the moment. He almost didn't even want to open his eyes, but he knew that he had to. The last thing that he could remember was . . . was fighting off at least a dozen thugs. He jumped straight up when the memories suddenly all came back to him. "Alyson!" He called out, hoping that she was in the room and would tell him that she was alright.

She hadn't done that, though. It wasn't a dream, like he had hoped. Everything was very much real, and actually happening as he sat there. "I'm sorry, Sir. Just me. Dr. Meridian went home a few minutes ago." Alfred said to him as he moved to Bruce's side. "How are you feeling, young man?" He asked Bruce, bringing back memories of when he was little to both of the men.

He had to actually grin at that. It seemed like just yesterday when Alfred was helping grow up and move on from his parent's deaths. The old man had always been there for him, not once had he let him done or shunned him like many others had. "Not that young." He said to him. "It's been a long time since you've called me that." Bruce said to the older man.

Alfred nodded his head to him. The two had a very long history together. It was hard to forget, though, it wasn't like either would ever want to in the first place. "Old habits die hard." He chuckled out to the younger man before him. "Are you alright?" He asked him again. Bruce was still fuzzy on a few things, but he knew that Alyson was in danger. He had a bad feeling in his gut about it too.

He needed to keep a clear head on about all of this, though. He couldn't just go in blind, especially when his daughter was involved. He had to be clear headed when concerning his daughter's safety, even though that called for the exact opposite thinking. "As well as can be expected, I guess. Give me the bad news." He said to him, just wanting Alfred to fill in the blanks of what happened after he blacked out.

Alfred found it the right course of action to go with the summary version of the night's events. They didn't have long, he suspected, to find Miss Alyson before it was too late. "Master Dick has run away. They have taken Miss. Alyson. And I'm afraid they found the cave, sir. It's been destroyed." Alfred gave Bruce the short version of what he had missed while he was out. Bruce couldn't believe it. This was all his fault.

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Alyson has been chained up on the couch in the Riddler's throne room. Her struggles were completely useless, seeing as she was hardly up to the challenge of even trying to pull on them, but she wasn't going to give up any time soon. They had injected her with something to knock her out. She was still a bit hazy from what it was. Batman was going to rescue her like he always had when she was in trouble. Riddler came toward her, singing to himself. "Batman will come for me." She told him angrily.

He had just continued to sing, though. What she had said didn't seem to bother him as much as she had hoped it would have. "Someday my bat will come. Some day my bat will come." Riddler sang out before turning to her. "I'm counting on it." He said to her, his voice suddenly lethal. He put his face close to Alyson's.

"You're frying your brain." She told him upon seeing the device.

He wasn't hearing it, though. "Nap time, gorgeous." He said to her before he drew a hypo filled green liguid. He plunged it into her neck before she even knew what he was doing, and she passed out cold a second later.

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The batsignal lit up the sky. Suddenly, the air above the familiar circle began to shimmer and glow, becoming a giant green question mark. The batsignal itself was now just a small period at the bottom of the symbol's bottom. Gordon paced around on the roof. "Where is he?" He asked out to himself.

A concerned deputy emerged onto the roof. "The Mayor's called again." He tells the Commissioner. "He's not going to show. Maybe he's hurt sir. Maybe he's . . ."

"No!" He says, but suddenly he isn't so sure of himself. ". . . No."

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Bruce stood at the ruined control platform. All of the riddles that he had ever received were spread out before him, including the most recent on he got tonight. "All the answers are numbers." Bruce pointed out to Alfred.

"But 1, 3, 1, 8, and 5. What do they mean?" Alfred asked him, now more confused than ever.

"What do maniacs always want?" Bruce asked as he paced around.

"Recognition, of course."

"Precisely. So this number is probably some kind of calling card." Bruce explained to the Alfred. He stared at the numbers, trying to figure them out. He added them together, then squares them. 1916425. It didn't make any sense. No luck, he started again. He separated the numbers. 13/18/5. "Letters in the alphabet." Bruce blurted out to Alfred.

"Of course. 13 is M . . . Mre." Alfred said out loud, trying his best to figure it out.

"How about, Mr. E." Bruce said to him, having figure out the first part.

"Mystery."

"And another name for Mystery?" Bruce asked him, hoping that he caught on, which of course he did.

"Enigma."

"Exactly. Mr. E. Mister Edward Nygma." Bruce said to Alfred before he led the way out of the room, Alfred following closely behind him. He led Alfred down through a secret stairway. "Good thing Mr. E didn't know about the cave under the cave." Bruce said back to Alfred as they descended down the stairs. It was a dark, jagged room, surrounded by water. Here was where the batwing and batboat were stored.

"What now, sir?" Alfred asked down to Bruce.

He now had, had everything figured out. "Claw Island. Nygma's headquarters. I'm sure that, that's where they're keeping Alyson." Bruce said up to Alfred. He normally would have been thinking irrationally because it was Alyson's life that was on the line, but there was no time for him to fall apart right now. He had to believe that she would be alright until he got to her. "Are all the batsuits destroyed?" He asked Alfred, having just realized that he might not have a suit.

Alfred was glad that they had prepared for this, mostly, at least. "All except the prototype with the sonar modifications you so disapproved of." He told him. "But it hasn't yet been tested." Alfred said to him, though he knew that Bruce wouldn't care a bit if it was tested or not.

Especially not if it were a life or death situation, which it was. "Tonight's a good night." He said before he followed Alfred to go get the suit and to change. Once he was suited up, he had only got one more question left to ask his old friend before he went off to rescue his daughter from the Riddler and Two-Face. "What do you suggest, Alfred. By sea, or by air?" He asked out to his old friend.

Before Alfred could answer him, another voice cut him off. "Why not both?" Bruce looked up to see Dick coming down the stairs. He was wearing a new suit as well. His cape was now black, with yellow on the inside only. A red armored vest complimented the green tights with knee armor well. He also had a utility belt and flexible black boots to go.

He was more surprised to see that he had even had a suit to begin with, and why he hadn't known about it at all. "Dick . . . where did you get that suit?" He asked out to him.

Behind Dick, was Alfred, who gave Bruce a sheepish look. "I . . . um . . . took the liberty, sir." Alfred told him. He didn't regret going behind Bruce's back one bit on this matter. Bruce didn't mind as much as Dick thought that he would though. Alfred only meddled when he thought fit to.

This being one of those times, and he was now glad that he had done it. For Alyson's sake at least. "I thought you could use a friend." Dick told him. He had seen the upstairs. It was a total mess. There was only one person he had thought about when he had seen the chaos. Alyson Wayne. He had first checked for her before he came down stairs, to find that she was no where to be found.

Bruce just stared at him for a moment. "Not a friend." He says to him. Dick's face fell instantly in disappointment. To his surprise, though, Bruce had extended his hand toward him. "A partner." He said to him. The Dynamic duo clasped their hands together. A partnership has been formed.


	15. The Man Is Not The Monster

Commissioner Gordon and his deputy were standing vigil under the false moon of the

Thanks for the reviews! I do not own anything expect for Alyson, everything else belongs to their rightful owners!

Chapter 15!

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Bat signal. They slowly were loosing faith that Batman was ever coming. "He's not coming. Shut it down." The Deputy reached for the power switch when suddenly a roar cut into the night. Light and shadow danced, for a second it would seem like the batsignal itself was flying toward them. Suddenly, the bat wing had burst through the signal. The dark plane buzzed over police headquarters, dipping a wing to Gordon. A triumphant Gordon waved Batman onward.

The night waters are still. Suddenly, the batboat, running silent and dark, cut across the harbor. Dick was at the helm, wearing a pair of night-vision goggles. He could see that Claw Island was just up ahead of him. Searchlights on top of the island headquarters popped on, one by one, flooding the water with light. Inside the headquarters were the Riddler and Two-Face standing, both clutching controls on opposite sides of a holographic generated game of Battleship. Each were firing tiny blips at the small dot crossing the floating screen.

"A-14!" The Riddler yelled out.

"Miss."

A mortar exploded next to the Batboat, shooting a water spout high up into the dark sky. He had just barely dodged it by the skin of his teeth. He had his sights set on Claw Island, nothing was going to stop him from getting there. It wasn't so that he could take down Two-Face at all though. Alyson needed him, and he was going to save her. Even if it was the last thing he ever did.

"B-12." Two-Face called out.

"A miss. And my favorite vitamin, I might add."

Another explosion to the stern. Dick was thrown as a third shell hit the Batboat. The craft exploded a second after. "A hit." Two-Face said out excitedly.

"You sunk my battleship!" Riddler said out, his tone not very upset.

Dick had quickly slipped a re-breather into his mouth. He dived underwater and started his swim toward Claw Island. A spear shot past him, leaving a trail of bubbles behind it. Another shot by him a second later. His eyes widened when he spotted a hidden bunker. A stream of armed frogmen emerged from it and were headed his way.

The Bat wing soared over the water. A laser shot from the top of the stronghold, neatly severing one of the Bat wing's wings. The Bat wing dived straight into the river. He had seen Dick go under. The water had come up fast, a rushing explosion was soon to come. Dark panels shifted, sealing wheels hubbes, growing sleek fins as the Bat wing morphed now into the Bat sub.

Two frogmen had held onto Dick by the arms and legs as several more swim toward him with exposed knives. One of the two Frogmen had taken his re-breather from him, causing him to gasp out with the sudden lack of air. The Bat sub blasted over an underwater reef. A torpedo tube fired a dark rocket towards the frogmen at a blinding speed.

One of the frog men spun around. The torpedo was racing right toward him. It unfurled to reveal Batman instead. Batman's fist smashed the glass of the Frogman's mask. The thug raised up in a mass of bubbles. Dick used the distraction and kicked free. Batman flew by them, grabbing onto Dick's hand and pulling him away in the process. Batman and Dick broke to the surface, and they had both struggled to climb a shore. "Holey rusted metal, Batman." He blurted out, leaving Batman beyond confused.

"What?" Batman asked him.

Dick took a few steps forward and kneeled down toward the ground. "The ground. It's metal, and it's full of holes. You know, holey." Dick explained to him.

He nodded his head, silently telling him that he understood it now. "This place was a refueling station for subs during the war." Batman explained to him. Just as he started to climb out of the water, a horrendous crunching sound is heard as Dick began to raise up.

The island surface was actually the top of a tremendous metal sphere balanced on top of an enormous cylindrical oil tank, raising, now, faster out of the water than they could both climb. "Robin." Batman said out as he threw a Bat-a-rang, but it had glided off the side of the sphere. He stood, staring up at Robin, who stood alone on top of the metal sphere now near five stories high. No way up.

Batman had spotted a rusting access panel in the giant support cylinder. He ripped it off, and climbed inside of it. Robin stood, looking down at the ocean. "The Bat, or the Bird. We couldn't decide who got you kill who." A voice had said out from behind Robin. "Or is it whom?" Robin spun around. Two-Face emerged from a hatch on top of the dome. He stood, smiling back at Robin, a knife in his hands. "We flipped for it. We got you." Two-Face laughed out before he leaped forward, catching Robin by the throat.

The two man slid down the sloping edge of the dome, their descent stopped by a narrow, rusting metal lip. Two-Face smashed Robin's head into the side of the dome with a great force. Once. Twice. Three times. "What's wrong, circus-boy? No mommy and daddy to save you?" Two-Faces mocked him. He raised the blade over the dazed Dick, bringing it down fast.

Robin rolled away clear, the blade wedging into the rusted metal surface. It was all the time that Robin had needed. He back-flipped erect, kicking Two-Face hard in the head. "For my mother." He growled out as he sent a flying front kick to the chin. "For my father." He growled out as he sent a spinning back kick, knocking the maniac to his knees. "For Chris." Robin hauled off, and smashed him in the face. "For me." He growled angrily as he punched Two-Face square in the face.

The punch had sent Two-Face rolling down the side of the dome, fingers raking sloping steel to grab a hold of, but he had found no purchase. At the last second, Two-Face had grabbed a small metal dimple on the belly of the dome's curve, hanging on for dear life, his feet kicking wildly over the abyss. "The scales are tipped. The blindfold torn from the lady's eyes. Justice will be served." Two-Face said out as the rusting metal bulge started to tear and break. "You're a man after my own heart, son." He said to Robin. The metal broke free. "See you in hell." Two-Face laughed out, a grin playing off his lips.

His hands tore through the rust, and he began to fall. At the last possible second, Robin grabbed onto his hand and hoisted him up to safety. He had remembered his fight with Alyson only days ago. He wouldn't let her down. He wasn't one of those monsters. He wasn't like the monster in front of him either. "No. I'd rather see you in jail." Robin said to him.

The menace grinned back at him. He was playing right into his hands. Stupid, stupid, boy. "The Bat's taught you well. Noble." Two-Face said out to him just before he spun around, a gun suddenly now in his hand, pressing now into the flesh between Robin's eyes. "A mistake. But definitely noble." Two-Face said to Robin as he cocked back the trigger.

Inside of the cylinder, Batman had noticed that it was empty, just the crashing surf and rocks below. He looked up, and saw that the ceiling was a giant steel grate, flushed with the sides of the cylinder. He loaded a Bat-a-rang into his launcher and fired it upward. The Bat-a-rang flew high, securing a purchase on the grate. He attached the cable to the winch on his belt, and began to raise up quickly.

The grate bolt had exploded, causing the giant grate to fall toward him. Batman twirled on the rope so he was raising upside down, his feet racing toward the plummeting grate. He hit a switch on his utility belt. Thrusters on his new batsuit had rocketed him feet first toward the descending grate. The grate smashed into him and flipped like pie pan. Batman let go of the wire, cutting his thrusters and tumbled into mid-air so his hands are now extended before him.

He grabbed one of the steel girders in the darkness overhead. He hung, watching the now dislodged grate fell to the watery delth below. A moment went by before he hoisted himself onto a steel plat form to face Riddler's control room. The Riddler sat across the room in his throne, a huge antenna shooting up into the night sky behind him through a round hole in the dome. A large ring of Green Neon encircles him, feeding him more and more brain power. "Welcome to my parlor said the Riddler to the Bat. How's tricks?" Riddler asked him.

He was done with tricks, especially this particular one where it concerned the ones he had loved more dear. "No more tricks, Edward. Release Alyson and Robin. This is between you and me." Batman said to him, knowing that Dick must have been captured since he wasn't here already.

Two-Face stepped out from behind the Riddler. "And me, and me!" He added in with a laugh.

How could he have forgotten him? "Of course. The Box does more than enhance neutral energy. You've been sucking Gotham's brainwaves." Batman figured out on his own as he looked at the antenna to the machine.

He couldn't wait to explain the new tricks his machine could do to the old bat. "And now it's new. Improved. Better than ever." Riddler said out to him excitedly as he motions to the screens.

On the screens before him were endless schematics of flicker brains. ". . . The jolt I felt in the beam at your party." He was finally getting what Riddler was doing to all the people of Gotham. "You've devised a way to map the human brain. To read men's minds." Batman figured out.

If only it was that simple. "Oh, Bruce, you are clever. How fitting that numbers lead you to me. For numbers will crown me king. My Box will sit on countless TV's around the globe, mapping brains, giving me credit card numbers. Bank codes. Safe combination's. Number of infidelities. Of crimes. Of lies told. No secret is safe from my watchful electronic eye. I will rule the planet. For if knowledge is power than tremble world, Edward Nygma has become a God." Riddler said to him.

He turned to Harvey once he was done. "Was that over the top? I can never tell. By the way, B-man, I got _your_ number." He said to him as he motioned toward the screens. On one set of screens were a towering picture of Batman. On another set of screens were a towering picture of Bruce. The images collided, forming a half Bruce, half Batman. "I've seen your mind. Your's is the greatest Riddle of all. Can Bruce Wayne and Batman ever truly co-exist? Stop me if I'm wrong here." Riddler laughed out to Batman. He remained stoic, but the Riddler was right on. "So let's help you decide, once and for all, who you really are. Behind curtain number 1 . . ." Riddler trailed off, motioning over to a covered cylinder.

One of the curtains had raised up. Alyson was inside of the cylinder, bound and unconscious. "The captivating, Little Miss Alyson Wayne. The one, and only daughter, of Bruce Wayne, himself. She enjoys reading, hiking, and foolishly hopes to be important in her daddy's life. Ha!" Riddler laughed out as Two-Face did a little round of mocking clapping. "And behind curtain number two!" Riddler announced out, motioning to another covered cylinder on the other side of the room across from Alyson.

The curtain had then dropped, revealing Robin inside of it. "Batman's one and only partner. This acrobat turned orphan likes Saturday morning cartoons. And dreams one day being . . . bare naked with a girl." Riddler announced out, but held up his hand before Two-Face could start to laugh. "But not just any girl. None other than Gotham city's own little Miss Sunshine . . . Alyson Wayne!" He announced to the room, sending Two-Face into a round of laughter.

Batman felt his jaw tightened, but he still managed to remain calm. "And below these contestants, my personal favorite . . ." Riddler trailed off as he motioned to the two trap doors beneath both Alyson and Dick that had opened. Below the doors, were jagged rocks and a crashing surf. "A watery grave!" He shouted out as he held up a button on his cane. It was shaped like a glowing green skull. Robin glanced over at Alyson's cylinder to see if she was okay, and saw that she was starting to come to.

It took her a second to realize that she was trapped. She started to struggle against her binds, but like him, found the effort useless. "A simple touch, and five seconds later these two day players are so much as gull food on the rocks below. Not enough time to save them both. So who will it be? Bruce's daughter? Batman's partner? You decide. Is this fun or what?" Riddler was beyond excited, he was going to win.

"Edward, you've become a monster."

There was no way Batman could win this time. He couldn't save them both. "You flatter me. No monster, just The Riddler, and here's yours. What is without taste or sound, all around, but can't be found? On your mark, get set . . ." Riddler reached for the button. Batman had stepped forward. The floor between where Batman stood, and the Riddler's throne platform was translucent. A hologram masking a tremendous gap.

Batman was about to step into an abyss. He had stopped short, though, looking up at the Riddler. "Death." Batman mumbled out to himself. "Death. Without taste, sound and all around us." He said out to him louder. "Because there is no way for me to save them and myself. This is one giant death trap." Batman said to him.

He had figured out the tricky riddle that he was given, much to Riddler's disappointment. "Excellent. See. Who says a guy in a rubber suit can't be smart? Well, it's been grand. Sorry you all have to die now." Riddler said as he touched the skull button.

A sudden screech cut though the room, causing Batman to look up. High above the Riddler's antenna a giant monarch bat glides across the night. "Wait, I have a riddle for you." Batman shouted out to him, causing Riddler to freeze before he let the two drop from their cylinders.

He was now curious, and interested in what he had, had to say. "For me? Really? Tell me." Riddler was even more curious to know what riddle someone could have for him, though he doubted it would be hard for him to figure out though.

"I see without seeing. To me, darkness is as clear as daylight. What am I?" Batman riddles to Riddler. Riddler scoffs, knowing the answer to that riddle in a second.

"Oh please. You're as blind as a bat." Riddler said to him as if it was the easiest answer to a question that he's ever heard.

"Exactly!" Batman slammed his utility belt, releasing a high energy Bat-a-rang, which he had hurled at the Riddler's huge antenna. The bat-a-rang smashed into the Riddler's antenna. A tremendous explosion of sparks had gone out as the transceiver short circuited. "No!" The Riddler screamed out as the room went pitch black. Riddler's finger had hit the skull button at the last second. Robin and Alyson both then suddenly dropped, plummeting through the two holes. Two metal lids shut over Batman's eyes. Two small sonar screens on the back of Batman's eye pieces revealed the phantom floor and the wild cris-cross of interconnected steel beams and the crashing ocean below.

Batman threw another bat-a-rang, which lassoed around a beam over head. He jumped down after Alyson and Robin. He grabbed a falling Alyson as he passed by her, hooking her onto the bat-a-rang. She had stopped short, letting out a yelp at the suddenly stop. He shot up another bat-a-rang as he flew down toward his young partner. Robin was getting dangerously close to the watery grave below. Batman dived toward the sea below.

He had managed to get his arms out from behind him and held them up, trying to help Batman out. He had caught Robin just above the rocks, precisely as the Bat rope pulled tight. "Thanks." Robin said out of breath. Batman used the bat-winch to shoot them back up to the platform. Together, they had both pulled Alyson up to the platform with them. The second her feet had touch ground, her knees had given out, and she collapsed into Robin's arms.

She shivered from the coldness of the metal. Robin held her up as Batman started to untie her. "All those heroics for nothing. No more riddles, no more curtains one and two. Just plain old curtains." They look up to see Two-Face on the platform above them. He was holding a gun at them.

Robin had quickly moved Alyson behind him as best as he could without actually pushing her over the platform. Two-Face cocked back the trigger of his gun. Batman had had to think quick. "Haven't you forgotten something, Harvey? You're always of two minds about everything . . ." He said out to Two-Face.

The handsome side of Harvey's face turned toward them. "Oh. Emotion is so often the enemy of justice. Thank you." Harvey said to them as he took out his famous coin and flipped it.

Batman threw up a hand full of similar coins, throwing Two-Face off balance as he tried to reach for his own. "No!" He screamed out as he reached out to catch it. He lost his balance, and fell to the rocks and the angry sea below. Alyson screamed out and hid her face into Robin's chest. The young man watched on in awestruck as Two-Face sunk below the surface. He was dead. His family finally would be avenged. "Help Alyson. I'll be back." Batman said to Robin before he started to scale girders. Alyson shivered again, glad to be still wearing Dick's sweatshirt.

Though her feet were still freezing, and she was still a bit woozy from what ever the Riddler had injected her with. "Hold on tight." Robins said out to her as he wrapped an arm around her waist and held her tightly to him. She didn't get a chance to ask him what he had meant by that before he shot a bat-a-rang up, sending the two teens zooming up. Alyson squeaked out, holding her arms around Robin's neck tightly like he had told her to.


	16. HeartBreaks and Goodbyes

Thanks for all of the reviews! Sorry to say that this is the last chapter of Unexpected Twists! Don't worry, Alyson and everyone will be back soon enough in a new story called Unexpected Secrets.

Here's a preview

_Alyson gave her a warm smile in return. The girl next to her smiled back. They both could tell that this was going to become a very good friendship if they were to stay in contact. "No problem. You should be careful, though, it's a big city if you don't know anyone." She told her. "Don't worry, I'm new to the city too. I'm Alyson." She introduced her self to the girl next to her, extending her hand toward her. _

_The girl smiled happily back at her, shaking her hand with a quick gentle, yet firm, grip. "Dinah." She told her. The two girls both giggled together quietly. "Looks like we both know someone now." She laughed out to her. They both laughed again, nodding in agreement of that statement. This would be the start of a beautiful friendship, they both concluded._

_So maybe this new city won't be as bad as she had first thought. Maybe this was a sign to say that everything would turn out just fine. At least she hoped that it would be. As they drove closer into the city, her nerves had kicked into over drive. This was really happening to her. She was in New Gotham, she had one friend, a new sister, and a new live to start._

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Alyson started to stir in her own bed the next morning. Her eyes started to flutter open, her mind still groggy from her sleep. She jumped up when the memories of the night before came back to her. She looked around her room, and she was completely confused. The last thing that she remembered was Robin getting her out of that cylinder thing, then . . . then nothing. It was blank after that.

She slowly got up from her bed and made her way to her window. She noticed that she was still dressed in what she was last night. It wasn't her costume, it was her capris and tank top, with Dick's sweatshirt over it. Dick. Her heart tugged at the thought of him. He had left the Manor for good, never to return to it again was her guess. He was lucky.

He left just before . . . before Riddler and Two-Face's thugs showed up. Before her father was shot in the head. "Oh god, daddy." She whispered out as she remembered what had happened to her dad before she was taken. She hurried out of her room, racing down the hallway. "Daddy! Alfred!" She screamed out as she got to the top of the stairs. Bruce turned around in his seat on the couch to see that his daughter was awake and upset. "Daddy!" She sobbed out as she raced down the stair case. He got up and jogged to the stair case.

She jumped off the bottom few steps and into her dad's arms. "It's alright. I'm alright, Alyson." Bruce whispered to his daughter as he held her tightly in his arms. Alyson held onto him tightly, thanking god that he was alive. When she had seen him fall down those stairs, her life felt like it had ended. He soon set her down on her feet and looked her over, like he hadn't already known that she was okay already. "How are you? You were the one that was kidnapped if I remember right." He asked her as he checked her over.

She smiled up at her dad, just happy to see him alight. "I'm fine. Batman saved me, once again. He had a partner with him this time. Robin's his name, I think I heard that Riddler guy call him." Alyson told her father, pushing his fussing hands away. She gave him another hug, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I love you, daddy." She whispered to her dad.

He smiled happily, and hugged her back. "I love you too, sweetheart." Bruce whispered back to his daughter. Their moment was interrupted as a throat cleared behind them.

They looked behind Bruce to see Alfred standing in the door way. "I'm glad to see that you are alright, Miss Alyson." Alfred smiled, welcoming the hug that the younger girl greeted him with. "Master Bruce, someone has returned home." Alfred said to Bruce, even though they both knew who it was. Alyson's head shot up to see if Alfred was talking about who she thought he was. He nodded his head, and she took off without a second thought.

She raced down hall after hall until she came to the main doors. She saw someone waiting at the doors. "Dick!" She shouted out excitedly, causing him to turn around to face her. He smiled brightly when he had scene her. She raced toward him, jumping into his arms. He spun her around, the laughter filling the room coming from the both of them. "You came home." She cheered happily.

He laughed and put her gently on the ground. "I was at the gas station, and the news was playing. I saw what was going on back here. I came back because I had to know if you were okay and safe." Dick said to her, running his thumb over the scratch she had on her forehead.

She winced at his touch, but her smile returned in no time. "You're staying, though, right? You're not going to leave again?" She asked him, hope bouncing in her eyes. He smiled and nodded his head, causing her to squeal out in delight. She jumped into his arms again, beyond excited now. He chuckled as he spun them around again.

A throat cleared behind them, and the spinning came to a stop. Dick noticed that Bruce was watching them with a curious look, and he carefully put Alyson back down on the ground. "Welcome home, Dick." He said to him, though he had already said it before to him when they returned from Claw Island. Alyson didn't know that though, so they had to keep up the charade that he had just come home. "Alfred told me breakfast is ready. Why don't you join us." Bruce said to them before he left to go to the kitchen. Alyson pulled Dick along with her as she goes to follow, not giving him a chance to back out.

The three sat all together on one side of the dining table. "So Alyson, what do you remember from last night?" Bruce asked out to his daughter, trying to find out if she heard Riddler calling him Bruce last night while he was Batman. He hadn't gotten to find out last night. They had to knock her out with Bat gas before they brought her back to the bat cave.

Dick had ended up carrying her to her room so that Bruce could sit for more then a minute. "Not much after Two-Face, uh, you know, shot you." She still couldn't even really say it out loud. It all still seemed unreal. "I remember waking up in that tube thing, but I couldn't really hear anything. Everything was fuzzy. Before I even knew what was going on, I was falling, but then Batman had caught me. He caught that guy that I told you that he was working with too. They pulled me up, and started untying me, but then Two-Face showed up." Alyson began her tale.

Bruce and Dick shared a look when she brought up Two-Face. They had really talked about it last night after they had gotten back. The two had eventually bonded over the fact that both of their parent's death had been avenged. "What happened to him? Two-Face, I mean." Dick asked her as he played along with the dumb act.

Alyson's face fell at the memory of Two-Face falling to his death. "He . . . he's dead, Dick. He had lost his balance when he flipped his coin and fell." She said to him with a slight smile on her lips, knowing that had to make him happy just a little to know that his family's killer was gone. She turned to look at her dad again. "Batman left to go do something, I don't know what though. Robin, that was his partner's name I think, when Two-Face showed up? He moved me behind him when he pulled out the gun and pointed it at us." Alyson continued on with her story.

She had a dreamy look in her eyes, which neither man was happy to see. "He was so brave, and strong. I mean he didn't lift anything, or hit anyone that I saw, but I could tell. When Two-Face fell, he held onto me. I could feel his muscles. He got me out of that dome thing too." She told them. "Sorry to say this, daddy, I know you're a big fan of Batman and all, but this Robin guy? He's so much more cuter, braver, and younger too." Alyson was swooning at the memory of Robin.

Bruce chuckled softly, sparing a glance at Dick to see that his jaw had dropped. That was his expression exactly when Chase had told him she liked Batman more than she did him. "Should I be jealous, princess?" Dick asked her, trying to laugh and play it off as a joke. She, and Bruce, could see that it was just for show though. He was panicking on the inside.

Alyson's lips twisted into a grin upon seeing his worried expression, knowing that Dick was speechless on the fact that she was talking about Robin the way that she was in front of him. "Maybe." She giggled out to him. "I just hope Batman keeps him around. I wouldn't mind seeing him again." Alyson laughed out as she finished off her plate of breakfast. She wiped her mouth with her napkin once she was finished. "Well, if you'll excuse me, boys. I'm going to see if Alfred needs any help cleaning up the mess that those thugs left behind last night." Alyson excused herself and left the table.

They watched as she got ready to leave and raised up from her chair. She kissed her dad on the cheek and gave Dick a small wave before she left the room. "Well, I'm going to see if they could use an extra pair of hands." Dick said as he wiped his mouth and got half way out of his seat before Bruce stopped him.

There was still something left that they hadn't talked about last night. "Don't think that I've forgotten about your 'dream' about my daughter that the Riddler had brought up." Bruce spoke out, quiet enough so that Alyson wouldn't hear him, but loud enough so that Dick would.

Dick rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He was kind of hoping that Bruce wouldn't bring that up at all. "Look. I like her alot, Bruce. She's amazingly kind, and really sweet. She's not like any of the other snotty rich girls that I've met before. She cleans up after herself, and she helps Alfred out with the cleaning." He started to explain to him. "She gets this look in her eyes when she smiles that just makes your insides twist. Her laugh sounds like bells, not the ones that you want to smash, but like church bells. You just want to hear them all day." Bruce noticed that Dick had a goofy smile as he described Alyson.

As much as Bruce would like Dick and his daughter together, they couldn't be if he continued to dress up like Robin and be his partner. "Do you love her?" Bruce asked out to him, catching him off guard. Dick found himself speechless. Did he really love Alyson? They've only known each other for a month or so. They've only kissed once, not to say it was for the lack of trying though.

He didn't know if he even could love anyone with all of the hate inside of him. "I, uh . . ." Dick trailed off, not knowing what to say to him. He didn't know if he liked Alyson beyond just wanting to sleep with her. No, that was a straight up lie right there. He did like her beyond just wanting to sleep with her, but he didn't know how far that like went yet though.

That wasn't something that he would want to tell her father though. "I want the best for her. You have to understand that, Dick. I want someone who will be there to not only protect her physically, but mentally as well. I have no doubt that you could protect her, but as long as you lead the life you do as Robin? She won't be safe. Last night was proof enough of that. If any of our enemies figured out who we are like Riddler and Two-Face had done, she'd be the main target. Not only because she's my daughter, but because you love her." Bruce explained to him.

Dick didn't know exactly what to say to him. He wasn't even sure how Alyson had fit into his life yet, and Bruce was talking to him about love? "Bruce, I don't know how I feel about Alyson yet. God, I don't even know how she feels about me. I mean, yeah, I dream about her. What teenage guy wouldn't? She's amazingly beautiful, and really funny. But love, Bruce?" He paused. "That's way too soon to talk about. I'm still getting over my family's death. I don't want to even think about love right now." Dick was trying to act mature about this.

He didn't want to screw anything up before he even got to pursue anything. Bruce seemed to understand, and respect, that. "That's fair enough." Bruce said as he cleaned up after himself. He saw that the young man was about to leave the room. "I might not want to know any details, but I wouldn't forbid you two being in a relationship. That would be hypocritical of me. It's Alyson's choice if she wants to be with you or someone else though." Bruce added in, causing Dick to stop at the door way. Dick didn't turn to look at him or say anything more to Bruce. He hesitated a moment, but soon continued his exit out of the room.

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Alyson was sitting up in her room, looking over an old family photo album. There was a pile of new pictures next to her. She was smiling sadly over a picture that Alfred had taken of herself and her dad when she was little. She was too lost in her memories to notice a new presence next to her. She had jumped a mile out of her skin when an arm snaked itself around her waist. "Bruce has a fun side, who would have ever thought it." The voice said to her.

She looked up to see Dick leaning over her to see the picture she had been looking at a moment ago. She couldn't help but think of the kiss they shared right before the kidnapping. She studied his face, every single detail of it, right down to the light freckles on his cheeks that only someone in her closeness would be able to see. His lip twisted up the left side. She blushed and looked back down at the book. "Probably one of the only times." She told him as she traced her father's care free face.

They were both covered in vanilla cake. It had been her third birthday, and her dad had gone to get her cake instead of Alfred that year. How hard would it be to pick out a cake for a third year old? He had thought. Well, apparently it was harder than he had thought. Since he had picked out vanilla and not chocolate, which had been her favorite. To put it nicely, she didn't actually get any of the cake in her mouth. It had mostly ended up everywhere else.

She closed the book and put it a side for the moment. Dick then noticed the pictures before her that hadn't been put in an album yet. He reached across her to grab them so he could get a closer look at them. The one on top had to be the most recent of the bunch. It was of her and him working on her soon to be car in the garage. They were hard at work, for once, in the picture. He was showing her some stuff in the engine. "Hard to believe we're almost done with that piece of junk." He said out to her with a smile as he flipped through the rest of the pictures.

He stopped when he got to one picture. It was of them, but he wasn't sure how Alfred could have gotten it. It was of them dancing. Or rather, practicing dancing. It was before that gala event. She knew he had been worried about dancing, so she had offered to teach him. They were dressed in not much else besides shorts and tank tops each, and in Alyson's case, her hair was up in a messy pony tail. They had been going at it for hours, and they were both tired at that point. He had been finally getting it though.

In the picture he was holding her close, their eyes were locked together. He hovered over her by at least a foot. They both had just of a lost look in their eyes as they stared at each other, like it was only the other they were seeing at that moment in time. Which, if he remembered right, that was exactly how it had felt, for him at least. "You stepped on my feet so many times that day. I swear if you hadn't started to get it when you did, I would have killed you myself." She laughed to him as she leaned against him to look.

He lifted his head and looked over at her. Her eyes shifted from the photo to him. She was lost the second her eyes locked with his own. They hadn't realized how close they were to the other. His eyes flickered down to her lips, which were just screaming for him to kiss them again. "Alyson, I . . ." He trailed off as he started to lean down toward her.

She honestly didn't know if she wanted to kiss him again. She had kissed him before because she had thought that he was leaving for good and she would never get to see him again. She couldn't have lived with herself if she hadn't kissed him at least once. She would have forever played the 'what ifs' over and over in her heads, and it would have soon drove her to insanity. Now, though, now she didn't know if she could kiss him again.

His lips had touched her own briefly before she had pulled away from him. The loss of contact from her lips caused him to whine. The kiss hadn't been long enough for him, not at all. He opened his eyes slowly, looking at her confused. Why had she pulled away from him so suddenly? "We can't do this." She told him. "I can't do this. The kiss before, I thought that you were leaving and I wouldn't have seen you again. I . . . I didn't want you to leave for good with not having kissed you at least once. It would have drove me insane." She told him as she got up from her bed and moved across the room to her vanity.

Dick stared after her confused. "And you thought that I wanted to leave with out ever kissing you? I couldn't say good bye to you, because I wanted to kiss you so badly. You weren't ready to take us there, but you are now, Alyson." He told her as he got up and moved behind her. He grabbed a hold of her wrist and tugged on it. She turned around to look at him, but kept her head down. He grabbed a hold of both of her hands and held them to his heart. "We are ready to take that step, Allie, and you know it." He told her softly.

She still refused to look at up him though. She couldn't, because she knew that if she did, she wouldn't be able to refuse him any longer. "Dick, I just can't." She told him sadly. He reached out his hand to take a hold of her face. He lifted her head up to look at him. He eyes slowly locked with her own. He hated the fact that tears were swimming in her blue eyes.

This was killing her, it was killing them both. They both wanted to be closer, but she just wasn't sure if she could be. He was expecting this girl that was strong and could take care of herself. She wasn't that girl though, and tonight demonstrated that perfectly. She had needed to be saved, once again, from Batman. Only, it wasn't only Batman that had saved her. There was now that Robin character.

That was another reason that she couldn't do this with him right now. How could she kiss him and give him her heart, if just being close to another man had made her very same heart skip a beat just by being close to him, or just talking about him. That wasn't fair to Dick. He needed a girl who could give him her whole heart, but her's was so broken because of her dad and their past that she couldn't even do that.

How many times had she cried herself to sleep because her father hadn't been there to tell her something as silly as good night? Or to just sit with her during a meal and talk to her, or even to just tell her he loved her? Or when she was a little girl and he wasn't there to check if there were any monsters under her bed? Alfred had done all of those things, but it hadn't been the same.

As she stared at Dick now, she could see that she still had monsters that she hadn't gotten rid of, and they weren't monsters that he or anyone else could take care of for her. "You're scared, I get that, but that doesn't mean that you have to let this, us, go because of it. Alyson, listen, I know you think I'm still hooked on my family' death, and yeah, I'm still gonna miss them, but this is good for me, good for you. We need this, both of us." He told her.

She just shook her head though, her heart breaking even more as tears escaped from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. He tried to kiss her again, thinking that if he could only kiss her, she would understand that this was right. Their lips met, but it was bittersweet as she wouldn't let him go any further to prove to her that this could work. He wouldn't give up though. He wouldn't let her throw away what ever this was because she was scared.

He wasn't lying, this would be good for both of them. After all the hurt both of them had been through, they needed a spot of happiness in the middle of it. It wasn't long before she had given in to his lips, and kissed him back. She wished that she had had the straighten to pull away from him, but it was harder said than done. Especially, when she didn't want to.

His arm sneaked around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Hot salty tears ran down her cheeks, but neither of them cared at the moment. It was when his lips left her own to moved down her jaw to her neck, did she finally have the power to pull away from him. "I can't, Dick. I'm sorry." She told him as strongly as she could as she wiped the tears from her face. "I think you should leave." She told him, now refusing to look at him again.

He looked at her with a hurt expression. She had to be kidding. She couldn't be serious. They couldn't just be over before they could even start. He wouldn't give up on her, he couldn't. She was the last happy thing in his life, he couldn't loose her. He had finally gotten his family avenged last night. He wanted to move on with his life, and he wanted Alyson to move on with him. "Alyson . . ." He pleaded with her.

He was opening a new chapter in his life by being Robin, but he wanted Alyson to be in that new chapter as well. "I'm sorry, but I just can't do this with you." She told him as she moved to the window. She kept her back to him as she looked out at the sky full of stars before her. He didn't say anything more to her. He knew how stubborn she was, especially when she had her mind made up about something.

He swallowed his hurt and nodded his head. He could feel his eyes watering over, but he wasn't going to let them fall. He fought them back, his hurt expression turning to rage on a moment's noitice. "Fine, you know what? Fine, you stay here. You keep crying about how Bruce doesn't love you, but you know what? You're wrong, Alyson, you are wrong. He loves you more than anything else on this planet, even his own happiness. He's not the only one though. I . . ." He stopped himself from saying anything else.

She had to hear what he was going to say to her. Her light in her eyes had dimmed just a bit when she realized that he wasn't going to say it. How could he? They've only kissed twice now, and they've only known each other a few months. He couldn't mean those three words, even if he had said them. That wasn't the point, because the point was, that he hadn't said those three words.

He stormed out of the room when he knew that there was nothing left to say to the other. She had made herself clear enough to him. She flinched when he had slammed the door shut behind him. It wasn't until she had heard his own door slam shut that her tears had come back for another round. A sob escaped her lips as she fell to the floor in a big heap. She clutched at her heart as she could physically feel it breaking.

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It wasn't until later that she had left her room. Her hair was down wet and loose as it hung in curls. She was changed and sitting in front of the fire place. She was freezing, and not only because of the chilly night weather. She stared blankly into the burning flames. Her fight with Dick had taken a lot out of her. She didn't even know how she was going to survive living with him now. This was what she was afraid of since the beginning. The awkwardness around the house.

She flinched when a blanket was wrapped around her shoulders. She looked up to see her father looking down at her. He could see the heartbreak in her eyes. He sighed and made himself a seat next to her in front of the fire. "You alright, sweetheart?" He asked her. She had been fighting the crying of her heart for hours now. She would have thought that she would be out of tears after her break down in her room.

She couldn't lie to her dad, though. Even though she knew that he was lying to her about something. She felt the sobs coming as she looked at him. She shook her head 'no' to him. He didn't need to say anything as he wrapped an arm around her. He pulled her close to him as the sobs broke free of her throat. Her cried didn't leave the room as he just held her.

He didn't know what was wrong with her, but he didn't have to. Not at this very moment at least. All he needed to do was hold onto her and let her cry. This was what fathers did, that much he was sure of. He might not know what to do most of the time, but this was one of the things that he did. Another thing he did know, was that she couldn't stay in this house.

She had been taken right out of it twice now, against her will, and almost killed twice now because of him. He wasn't going to let that happen again. He knew of one person he could send her to. He knew that she wouldn't like it, but this was one time where she didn't have a choice. "There's something I need to tell you, Alyson, and I know you might never look at me the same way again after I tell you, but it's time you knew." He told her once her sobs had come to a stop.

She wiped her eyes and looked up at him confused. "You weren't your mother's only child. You have an older sister. She's only a couple of years older than you, and she lived in New Gotham a couple of miles from here." He confessed to her. She pulled back from his embrace, a look of pure disgust now written clearly on her face. "I didn't tell you because I wasn't sure how you would react. Helena, that's her name, didn't want to move here when your mother was killed, and I didn't want to hurt you." He confessed to her even more.

She didn't know how to react to this new information. How had her own father kept such a secret from her? She had an older sister, not a half sister or a step sister, but a full on older sister. Not only that, but her mother had been with her all this time, alive, and no one had bothered to even tell her. "Does she know about me?" She asked him.

He didn't know how to answer her. He just nodded his head 'yes' to her. She bit her lip, keeping back the anger that was now filling her body. "I think, after what just happened, it would be best if you went to live with her for a while. You saw a bullet hit me, Alyson. You were kidnapped and almost killed, again. You might not admit it now, but you are going to have nightmares about that. I just think it would be better if you weren't in this house for a while." He told her.

She jumped up to her feet then, not believing the words that were now coming out of his mouth. Hadn't he just moments ago been comforting her while she cried, but now he was telling her that he was going to ship her off to some sister that she was just learning about now. "No way! I'm not leaving." She told him as she paced the room.

He got up after her and moved across the room to follow. "You don't get a say on this, Alyson, not this time. I'm going to have Alfred call New Gotham and discuss living arrangements tonight. Now go upstairs and pack. As soon as things are settled, you'll be leaving." He told her.

She didn't know what to say to him. Was there anything to even say? "I hate you, and I hope I never have to see you again!" She screamed out as she stormed passed him and back up to her room. Bruce stared after her with a broken expression on his face. As much as he missed that he could just tell her he wouldn't send her away, he couldn't. He would rather her alive and hating him over her staying and dying because of him.

He looked at the mantle to see a picture of her blowing out the candles on her eighth birthday. She had been so happy then. That had been the last birthday he had been able to attend. Batman had always been called away just as they were about to do cake. He heard a noise and looked up at the entry way from the main hall to see Dick standing there with hate filled expression. He had clearly heard the whole argument between him and Alyson. "I'm sorry, Dick, but it's going to keep her alive." He told him before leaving the room to make the arrangements.

Dick stood there frozen. He didn't know what to say or do. He clearly couldn't go and talk to her. He couldn't help her like she had helped him the night after the gala. Not after the fight between them earlier on. He couldn't look at her, not tonight, and not feel the heart break all over today. He leaned against the door frame, not knowing what to do. The girl he was falling for was leaving, and he didn't know how to say good bye to her.


	17. Auther's Note

Sequel is finally up to read! It's called Unexpected Secrets if you go under my profile u'll be able to find it, or go under the tv show Birds of Prey and crossovers with Batman, you'll also find it. Thanks for all of the reviews for Unexpected Twist, i hope you all enjoy the sequel just as much!

Bella


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